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MANUAL 



UNITED STATES HISTORY. 



FROM 1492 TO 1850 



By SAMUEL "^ELIOT, 

iLUTHOE OF A HISTORY OF LIBERTY, AND PROFESSOR OF HISTOET AND 
LITERATURE IN TRIOTTT COILEGE. 



/"' 



BOSTON: 
HICKLING, SWAN, AND BREWER 

1858„ 



Eutered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

Samtjel Euot, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts, 






2. 



EtECTROTTPED AT THE 
BOSTON STEREOTYPE yOUNDaT. 



PREFACE. 



I HAVE wi*itten this book to supply a want felt by 
others, as well as by myself. "We have looked in vain 
for a work, of moderate extent, in which the leading 
pruieiples and the leading facts of our history are set 
forth side by side. To provide such a volume for the 
reader and the student is the object of the following 
IManual. 

In writing it, I have endeavored to observe the proper 
proportions. The same space is not given to every period 
or to every transaction. On the contrary, events are 
narrated at greater or less length according to their im- 
portance — a few days occupying as many pages in some 
parts of the volume as a long series of years in orfiers. 
By thus making inferior matters subordinate, I trust that 
I have done more justice than might be anticipated from 
the appearance of the book to the great passages in our 
history. It is nowhere, however, a book of details. I 
have confined- myself intentionally to outlines — endeav- 
oring to sketch these in such a way as to suggest com- 

(iii) 



iv PREFACE. 

pruhcnsive conceptions of the wliole, rather than complete 
views of any single part. 

In the last division of the work, I have entered npon 
dangerous ground. Party feelings are still active in rela- 
tion to many of the movements and many of the men 
descrihed in my later ehnpters. It is vain to ho])e that 
the views which I have taken will be every where accept- 
able. But 1 can conscientiously say that I have written 
of the latest, as of the earliest occurrences, without a 
sensation of partisanship, or of devotion to any cause less 
universal than the cause of truth. 

The character of the publication not admitting frequent 
notes or large citations, it is right for me to state that, 
while I have principally relied' upon original authorities, 
I have also followed later writers to a considerable degree. 
To some works — L-ving's Columbus, O'Callaghan's and 
Brodhead's Histories of New York under the Dutch, 
Sparks's Apjiendixes to the Writings of Washington, Los- 
sing's Field Book of the Revolution, Duyckinck's Cyclo- 
pa'dia of American Literature, and llildreth's History of 
the United States — I am under obligations which duty 
and inchnation alike compel me to acknowledge. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. . 

OCCUPATION. 

CHAPTER I. 

Europe before 1492. 

Europe — Activity there — Material movement, 3. Intellectual move- 
ment—Moral movement, 4. General elevation — Monarchy in Europe 
— Discovery of America, 5. 

CHAPTER II. 

Columbus. 

Early life — Project of discovery, 7. His motives, 8. . Voyage of dis- 
covery—The west the possession of Spain, 9. Other voyages of Co- 
lumbus, 10. His spirit — Name of America — A new world, 1 1 . 

CHAPTER III. 

Spanish Settlements. 

Spanish adventures •— Ponce de Leon in Florida — Various expedi- 
tions, 13. Luis de Cancello — Melendez, 14. De Espejio and Vizcaino — 
Motives, 15. Institutions — Circumstances — Extent of Spanish claims, 
16. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Erench Settlements. 

New France —Carolina: Fate of its Huguenots, 17. Expedition to 
avenge them— Acadie and Maine: De Monts and De Saussaye, 18. 



(V) 



vi CONTENTS. 

Canada: Champlain — Collisions with the Ensli**!!, 10. Priests and 
missionaries — Other settlers — In.slitutions — Circiunstauccs, 20. E.x- 
tent of French claims, 21. 



CHAPTER V. 

English Skttlements. 

Srrfion 1. — E:\rly movements — England and Colmnbiis — Voyages of 
the Cabots, 22. Interval: Gilbert and Drake, 23. Raleigh — Failures 
of his eolonies, 24. Gosn(fld and others — 111 success of the English, 2-5. 
Section 2. — Companies — Organized efforts, 2o. Patent of Virginia, 20. 
London Company : Members and colonists — Jamcstowm — New charters, 
27- Fortunes of the colony — Institutions, 28. An infant colony — Fall 
of the company, 29. Virginia a royal province ^Growth of the colony, 
30. Plymouth Company : Members — Colonization attempted, 31. Va- 
rious proprietors and comi)anies — Settlement of Pljinouth, 32. Its dis- 
tinction in history, 33. Political fonns — Spirit, 34. Grants — Attempt 
at general government — Chaos, 35. New Hampshire and New Somerset- 
shire- — Cape Aim and Salem, 36. Company of Massachusetts Bay — 
Boston, 37. Increase and independence — Charter government, 38. Pu- 
ritan principles — External relations — Interaal relations. 39. Connecti- 
cut, 40. Providence and Rhode Island — Dissolution of the council, 41. 
End of companies — Position of New England — Thomas Morton, 42. 
Section 3. — Proprietors — Grant of Maryland, 43. A proprietary gov- 
ernment — Religious liberty — Troubles, 44. Other proprietors — Con- 
clusion — English motives, 45. Institutions — Circumstances — English 
names, 4G. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Dutch Settlements. 

Group of traders — Spirit in Holland — Dwindled in America — Hud- 
son's voyage, 47. Company of New Netherland, 48. Proposals of the 
Pl)Tnouth Puritans — "West India Company — Walloon colony, 49. New 
Amsterdam — Patroons, 50. English claims, 51. Trade of the colony, 52. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SwEDLSH Settlements. 

Idea of Gusta\nis Adolphus — Oxcustieni calls in Germany — Results, 
54. Opposing claims, Ho. 



CONTENTS. vii 

CHAPTER VIII. 

* Indian Races. 

European races — Indian races — Names and numbers, 56. Algon- 
quins — Iroquois, 57. Mobilians — Customs and institutions, 58. In- 
fluence upon the European — Counter influence upon the Indian, 59. 
African race — The countrj^ 60. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Europe from 1492 to 1638. 

The great change — Its caus6 and character — Luther's course, 61. 
Divisions — A crisis of good and evil, 62. Religious consequences — 
Political consequences — Spain, 63. France — Holland, 64. Sweden 
and Germany — England, 65. Intellectual expansion, 66. 



PART II. 
ENGLISH DOMINION. 

CHAPTER I. 

England and France from 1638 to 1763. 

Question of precedence— Reign of Louis XIV.— The monarchy, 69. 
The church — The nation, 70. Reaction — The English nation — Pe- 
riods of trial— Revolution of 1688, 71. Aristocracy in power — Eng- 
lish progress, 72. England and France, 73. 

CHAPTER II. 

The Thirteen Colonies. 

Old and new colonies — Plymouth annexed — Maine annexed, 74. 
New Hampshire — Massachusetts, 75. Connecticut — Rhode Island — 
Four colonies in New England, 76. Virginia — Maryland, 77. Caro- 
lina, North and South, 78. New York, 79. New Jersey, 80. Pennsyl- 
vania, 81. Delaware — Georgia, 82. Aspect of the thirteen, 84. 



^Ji CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEll III. 

Colonial Kklations. 

Races — Classes, 85. Of the old world, 86. Institutions belong to the 
freemen — English law, 87. Colonial governments, 88. To\N-ns, 89. 
Assemblies, 90. Churches — Persecution in Massachusetts: Child, 91. 
Baptists, 92. Saltonstall's renvmstrance — Dunster of Harvard College, 
93. (iuakers, 94. Witches, 95. Persecution elsewhere, 96. Save in 
Rhode Island, 97. Inter-colonial difiicultics — Shawomet and Massachu- 
setts, 98. United Colonies of New England, 99. Treatment of Rhode 
Island — Disagreements, 100. Dissensions elsewhere — Penn and Balti- 
more, 101. lielations to the mother country — The cro\\Ti — Charles II. 
and Massachusetts, 102. Loss of the Massachusetts and other charters — 
Parliament, 104. Navigation acts — Duties, 105. Royal governors — 
Berkeley in Virginia — Bacon's rebellion, 106. Andros in New England, 
107. Revolution — But not liberty, 108. Fletcher in New York, 109. 
General strictness, 110. Perils of the frontier, 111. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Indian "Wars. 

Spirit of the Indians — Spirit of the English, 112. Missionan,' labors 

— The Mayhews aud Eliot, 113. Supports — Results, 114. Wars in 
Virginia and Maryland, 115. Pequot war — Narragansets, 116. King 
Philip, 117- War throughout New England — Destruction of the Nar- 
ragansets, 118. Of Philip — Peace, 119. Abenakis in anns — Peace in 
tlie centre and south — War in North Carolina, 120. In South Carolina 

— With Cherokces — With westcni tribes, 121. Pontiac's war — Indians 
in Pennsylvania, 122. Other wars, but the issue decided — Later mis- 
sions, 123. 

CHAPTER V. 

Dutch Wars. 

Wars with Indians, 125. Effect upon New Nctherland — Internal re- 
strictions, 126. Religious persecution — Subjection of New Sweden, 127. 
New Amstel — English aggressions, 128. War : Loss of the province — 
Recovery and final loss, 130. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Spanish Wars. 

Spanish race — Its colony — Collisions with the English, 131. Effect 
on the colony — War^ Attacks on St. Augustine and Charleston, 132. 



CONTENTS. ix 

Treaty of Utrecht — Second war : Descents on Florida — Third war : 
Georgia and Florida, 133. Fourth war : Cession of Florida, 134. Spain 
in Louisiana and California — Character of the Spanish wars, 135. 



CHAPTER VII. 

French Possessions. 

French race — New France — System of government, 136. Eelations 
with Indians and English, 137. Acadie, including Maine — Canada, 
including New York, Wisconsin, Michigan, 138. The Mississippi : Illi- 
ixois — Louisiana, 139. French dominion — Colony in Texas, 140. Col- 
ony in Mississippi — Colony in Alabama — Grant to Crozat, 141. West- 
em settlements: Indiana — Loss of Acadie — Forts: Pennsylvania and 
Ohio, 142. Mississippi Company : New Orleans — Missouri : the thirteen 
of France — Vastness and weakness, 143. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

French Wars. 

Wars -with Indians in the north — In the south — Strife between the 
French and the English, 144. Indecisive wars — King William's war, 
145. Its character and course, 146. Religious differences — Queen 
Anne's war, 147. Collision in the west, 148. And in the east — King 
George's war4||49. Blood shed in Nova Scotia, 150. The Ohio Com- 
pany — Blood shed in Pennsylvania: George Washington — The final 
struggle, 151. Extent, 152. Losses of the English — Their subsequent 
A-ictories. 153. Conclusion of the war — The French retire, 154. French 
and English compared, 155. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Colonial Development. ^ 

Development of territory — Of occupation, 156. Of habits of life — 
Of education, 157. Colleges — Of the press, 158. Official interference, 
159. Editions of the Bible' — Intellectual development: In action, 160. 
In literatixre — In science, 161. In art, 162. Influences from abroad — 
Liberality in religion, 163. Church of England, 164. Project of bishops, 
165. Classes: The slaves, 166. Colonies: Union, 167. Contributions 
to Boston, 168. 



X cnN'n-N IS. 

CllAl'TKK X. 

Tjii: M()thi:u Cointhy. 

Viows of the mothor country— IJoiud of trade, 109. African Com- 
pany, 170. Colonial governors, 171. • Corn bury in New York — Bunict 
ami Iklcher in Massachusetts, 172. Clinton's appeal, 173. Parliamen- 
tary interference — Ctmnuercial rule, 174. Military rule — Impressment 
at Boston — A connnander-in-chief of the colonies, 17,5. Judicial ten- 
ure- AVrits of assistance, 170. Enslish dominion, 177. Effects on the 
colouics— Upon the mother country, 178. Ti'inpoiarv nuitv. 17;). 



PART 111. 

lilK INFANT NATION. 

CHAPTER I. 

l*U()VOCATIONS. 

Old troubles extended — Parties in the mother countrj', 183. Views 
of the colonics — Parties in the colonies, 184. The two sides — Minis- 
tries of the period — Point of taxation, 18>5. Discussion -^ugar act, 180. 
Stamp act — Resistance, 187. Congress — Declaration ofrights and lil>- 
crtics, 188. Etfect, 190. Riots — Non-importation and non-consumj)- 
tion, 191. Repeal of stamp act, 192. American rejoicings — New acts — 
Itesistancc again, 193. Massachusetts convention, 194. Act concerning " 
trials in England, 19>5. Colonial divisions — Boston massacre, 190. 
Other disturbances, 197. Additional act cjjnceming trials — Tea de- 
stroyed in Boston, 198. And elsewhere — Slave trade, 199. Chastise- 
ment of Massachusetts and Boston, 200. Quebec act — Conventions and 
provincial Congress in Massachusetts, 201. National spirit — Continental 
Congress, 202. Its work — American Association, 203. Petition and 
addresses — Peace or war, 204. Preparation, 20<5. 

CHAPTEll II. 

Wau. 

Anning of Massachusetts — Not unprovoked or unanticipated, 20C. 
Arming of other colonics — Course of Parliament, 207. First collision, 
208. Its signilicance — Lexington and Concord. 209. Elfect : Meek- 



CONTENTS. xi 

lenburg declaration, 210, War in Massachusetts — Ticonderoga and 
CroAvn Point — Proceedings in Congress, 211. Washington appointed 
commander-in-chief, 212. Bunker Hill — Washington at the head of the 
anny, 213. Difficulties — Siege of Boston, 214. General government, 
215. The thirteen complete — Military operations, 216. Loyalists — 
Great Britain determined, 217. Washington before Boston — ^"Kecovery 
of the town — The victory, 218. Increasing perils, 219. 



CHAPTER III. 

Declaration of Independence. 

Transformation of colonies to states — Idea of independence, 220. 
North Carolina and Virginia — Congress — Hesitation, 221. Lee's reso- 
lution — Debate, 222. Committee on declaration — Resolution adopted, 
223. And the 'declaration — The United States, 224. Plan of confedera- 
tion—Unity in Congress — State constitutions, 225. Divisions amongst 
the people, 226. 

CHAPTER IV. 

War, continued. Second Period. 

Three periods — Characteristics of the second period — Reception of 
the declaration, 227. Defence of Charleston — Loss of New York, 228. 
Loss of Lake Champlain and the lower Hudson — Loss of Newport, 229. 
Defence of New Jersey, 230. Organization of anny, 231. Dictatorship 
— Paper money, 232. Arrival of Lafayette, 233. Defeat of Burgoyne, 
234. Loss of the Hudson Highlands — Loss of Philadelphia, 235. 
Washington's embarrassments — Loss of the Delaware, 236. Wickes's 
cruise — Cabal against Washington, 237. Army quarrels, 238. Army 
sufferings — Aspect of Congress, 239. Treaty with France — British 
conciliation, 240. Recovery of Philadelphia, 241. Possession of Illi- 
nois — End of the period, 242. 



CHAPTER V. 

War, continued. Third Period. 

Characteristics — Failure to recover NeAvport, 243. British and Indian 
ravages, 244. Decline of American affairs, 245. Loss of Georgia — 
Defence of- Charleston, 246. Failure to recover Savannah — Invasion of 
Virginia — Operations in the north, 247. Jones's cruise, 248. Spain in the 
war, 249. Loss of South Carolina — Failure to recover it, 250. Abandon- 
ment of the south — Its defence — Darkness in the north, 251. Light in 



xii CONTENTS. 

the south, 2o3. Holland in the war — Final adoption of the Confedera- 
tion, 254. Its inctficieucy, 2oo. Defence of the Curolinas, 2oG. The 
central states in dancfcr, 2o7. Crisis — American preparations, 2.38. De- 
feat of Coniwallis, 2o9. Effect — Prospects, 2G0, Evacuation of the 
south — The European combatants, 2G1. Cessation of hostilities — llo- 
leasc of prisoners, 2G2, Treaties of peace, 2G3. Evacuation of the north — 
Troubles in the American army, 264. Disbanding — Ooverimient of the 
nation, 265. Washingtou's counsels, 2G6. And prayers, 267. 



CIIAPTEll VI. 

TlIK CoXSTITUTIOX. 

Foreign sympathy — Lafayette's visit, 268. "Wants of America — Organ- 
ization, 269. The states: Internal troubles, 270. Dismemberments -r- 
Case of Vennont, 271. Disputes between state and state— General 
govemment, 273. Organization of the north-west territory, 274. Difficul- 
ties with Spain, 275. And Great Britain, 276. Dark times — Old foun- 
dations — Recent superstructui-es, 277. Religious privileges, 278. Ec- 
clesiastical organizations — Suggestions of a national Constitution, 279. 
Conventions at Alexandria and Amiapolis — Action of Virginia, 280. 
Of other states and of Congress, 281. Opening of the Convention — 
Aspect, 282. Plans of a constitution, 283, Question of powers, 284. 
A national system adopted — Parties: Small states and large states — 
Views of state govemment, 28.5. Votes of states, 286. Agitation, 287. 
Parties : North and south — Apportionment of representation — The slave 
trade, 288. Details and discussions, 289. Adoption of the Constitution — 
Opposition in the nation, 290. Constitutional writings, 291. Adoption 
by the states, 292. Character of the transaction, 293. Sympathy for 
mankind — Literature of the revolution and the Constitution, 294. The 
music of Billings, 295. • 

CHAPTER VII. 

Washington's Administration. 

Washington president, 296. Organization of government — Solem- 
nity of the work, 297. "Washington to his fellow-Christians — The na- 
tion, 298. "Work of Congress : The departments and the judiciary — 
Amendments to the Constitution, 299, Revenue — Credit, 300. Man- 
ner of decision, 301, National bank — Parties, 302. Especially north 
and south — Points concerning slaverv', 303, As to the territories, 304. 
Starting point of future strife, 305. Presidential tours — Work of the 
states — New states — Dependence upon "Washington, 306. Animosity 
of parties — Insurrection in Pennsylvania, 308, Indian wars, 309, In- 
dian interests, 310. Heckewelder, the missionary — Tribute to Algiers, 



CONTENTS. xiii 

311. Foreign relations — Commercial treaties, 312. Treaty Anth Spain 
— Relations with Great Britain and France, 313. Parties thereupon, 
314. Washington proclaims neutrality — Point proposed — Mission of 
Genet, 315. Great Britain and France invade American neutrality — 
Threatened war with Great Britain, 317. Mission of Jay, 318. His 
treaty, 319. Opposition — Ratification — Continued opposition, 320. The 
point gained, 321. Continued embarrassments : From abroad, 322. And 
at home, 323. Abuse of Washington, 324. His retirement — Lafayette, 
325. 



PART IV. 
THE GROWINQ NATION. 

CHAPTER I. 

Foreign Aggressions. 

Party administrations, 329. Parties amongst the people — Parties in 
relation to foreign aggressions, 330. Missions to France — Arming of 
the United States, 331. War — Strain upon the nation, 332. Nullifica- 
tion, 333. Another mission to France, 334. Death of Washington, 335. 
The French mission — Difficulties with Spain, 336. Mississippi Territory : 
Slavery under debate — Territory of Indiana : Slavery again, 337. War 
with Tripoli — Acquisition of Louisiana, 338, Troubles abroad and at home 
— Chief point involved in the acquisition, 339. Organization of Louis- 
iana territories, 340. Other territorial and state organizations — Burr's 
projects, 341. Difficulties with Great Britain — Mission, 342. Aftair of 
the Chesapeake, 343. Aspect of Great Britain and France, 344. British 
and French aggressions, 345. The administration against war — Em- 
bargo, 346. Succeeding acts, 347. Opposition, 348. Indian hostilities, 
349. Louisiana and Florida — Warlike preparations against Great Brit- 
ain, 350. Termination of preceding strifes, 351. 

CHAPTER II. 

War with Great Britain. 

Declaration — Cause of the United States, 353. A party cause, 354. 
As such opposed, 355. War at home, 356. Means for the war, 357. 
Position of Great Britain— Of France — The war: Losses on north- 
b 



xiv CONTENTS. 

western frontier, 3oS. Perry's victory on Lake Erie, 359. Operations on 
New York frontier, 3G0. 'Actions on Niagara frontier, 3G2. Defence of 
Lake Chuniplain — British superiority — Successes at sea, 3G3. Subse- 
quent reverses, 304. Losses upon the coast — Loss of north-eastcni 
coast — Capture of "Washington and Alexandria, 3G5. Defence of Balti- 
more — Indian foes, 3GG. National straits, 3G7. Party controversies, 3G8. 
Hartford Convention — Charges of disunion, 3G9. Proceedings of the 
Convention, 370. llcsults — Nullitifution in Connecticut and Massachu- 
setts, 37L Defence of Louisiana, 372. Martial law at New Orleans, 373. 
lleappearance of the navy, 374. Peace preliminaries — Treaty of Ghent, 
375. Protection of foreigners, 376. Indian f|;aty — aUgcriuc treaty, 
377. Exhuustiuu of the nation, 378. 



CHAPTER III. 

Mi.ssouiu Compromise. 

Foreign affairs —Domestic affairs, 379. Administrations — Seminole 
war, 380. Accjuisition of Florida, 381. New states — Proposal of Mis- 
souri — Question of slavery, 382. Constitutional argimient, 383. Two 
sides — Intense agitation, 384. Maine seeks admission — The compro- 
mise, 385. Different inteii)retations, 386. Admission of Missouri — 
Slave trade, 387. Visit of Lafayette, 388. 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Moxroe Doctrine. 

Relations with Central and South America — Monroe doctiine, 389. 
Purpose, 390. Congress of Panama — An American league, 39L 



CHAPTER V. 

Tariff Compromise. 

Administrations — Question before the country — Georgia controversy, 
392. Tariffs, 393. Nullification at the south -- Removals from office, 39o. 
Concessions to Georgia, 396. Tariff questions — Foot's resolution: De- 
bate, 397. Revision of tariff, 398. Nullification in South Carolina — 
Secession, 399. Resolution of South Carolina, 400. Resolution of gov- 
ernment, 40L Resolution of states — Tariff compromise, 402. Decision, 
403. On the great (luestion, 404. 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTER VI. 

Financial Disorders. 

National finance — Yeto of United States Bank charter, 405. Re- 
moval of deposits, 406. Agitation, 407. Money troubles — Surplus 
revenue — Abolitionism, 408. Indian wars, 409. Disturbed foreign rela- 
tions — Especially with France, 410. Parties, 411. Commercial crisis, 4i2. 
Independent treasury, 413. Insolvency of states, 414. Repudiation in 
Mississippi, 415. National credit, 416. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Annexation OF Texas. 

Recognition of Texas — Settlement of that state, 417. Revolution — 
Project of annexation, 418. Texas refused admission, 419. Relations 
with Great Britain, 420. Treaty of "Washington, 421. Landmark in 
our history — Sedition in Rhode Island : Approach, 422. Outbreak, 423. 
Civil war, 424. New states and territories — Movements concerning 
Texas, 425. Question of slavery — A compromise, 426. Consequences, 
427. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

War with ISIexico. 

Causes of "War : Mexican — American, 428. Boundary of Texas, 429. 
Mission from United States — Hostilities, 430. Disparity of combat- 
ants — Oregon controversy, 431. Settlement, 432. Conquest of north- 
east of Mexico, 433. Conquest of Chihuahua, 434. Conquest of New 
Mexico — Conquest of California, 435. Operations in Gulf of Mexico — 
March upon city of Mexico, 437. Battles on the way — In valley of 
Mexico, 438. Last actions, 439. Composition of United States forces — 
Forced supplies, 440. Peace: First steps — Next steps, 441. Treaty, 
442. Character of the war, 443. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Compromise op 1850. 

New territory, 444. Difficulties — Old questions subsiding, 445. Or- 
ganization of old territory — Organization of new territory — Slavery 
question, 446. Convention of southern members of Congress, 447. The 
territories declare against slavery, 448. Clay suggests compromise — 
Webster in debate, 449. Report of compromise, 450. Its adoption — 
Continued controversy, 451. 



XV i CONTENTS. 

CllArTEll X. 

National Devklopmext. 

Dovr-lnpinrnt of Territory — Of jjopulation, •1.V2. Of ocrupatiDii, i-')'4. 
Of invfstniciits — Of comiuunifiitions, 4.34. Of education, 4.'w. National 
institutions — Exi)lorin^ Kxpedition, 456. The press — Libraries, 457. 
Literature: Political — Tlieoloj^ical, 4.58. Lefj;al — Historical, 4')1). Sci- 
entific — Belles lettre.s — Fiction, 4(50, The drama — Poetry, 46L Art 
— Ueliij;ious development, 4(j'2. t'luirities, 4G.'3. Conclubion : The past 
and the present, 404. Part of the nation in hxmiuu history, 4G5. 



APPENDIX. 

European Sovoreipins, 4(>7 

American Authorities, 4(58 

Presidents of Continental Congress, 408 

National Administrations, 408 



PART I. 



OCCUPATION 



1492-1G38. 



(1) 



CHAPTER I. 

Europe before 1492. 

The liistory of the United States besrins in 
Jiurope. Ihere the movements, there the men 
arose, appomted to prepare the way for a new nation 
on the earth. 

Activity If we look over the century, or the half century, 
there. preceduig 1492 in Europe, we are struck by the 
numerous signs of change and of growth. Many countries, 
it is true, appear to be unmoved ; perhaps the few alone 
seem to be really sharing in the activity of the period. But 
the activity is all the more remarkable in being confined to 
a portion only of the European races. It both seems and 
is a strange thmg that three or four nations, not closely 
united with one another or amongst themselves, should all 
at once put forth their energies, and lift the world, as it 
were, into a wider and a loftier sphere. 
Material ^^^^ E^^^^ material movement of the age was in 
move- maritime discovery. An instinct to search over 
unknown seas for unknown shores led to many an 
adventure and many an acquisition. No people was more 
distmguished in these enterprises than the Portuguese, 
whose navigators made their way to the Madeiras (1418-20) 
and the Azores (1432-57) on the west, then on the south, 
along the Afi-ican coast, to and beyond the Cape of Good 
Hope, (1486-97.) The chief prize at which the adven- 
turers were aiming lay in the East, amongst the lands 

(3) 



4 TAUT I. 1492-1638. 

embraced iiiidc r tlic common name of tlio Tndio?. "Hut a 

goKlen hiu' of wealth ami of faim- was spread over all th(3 

scius and all the shores within the reaeh of the Europeans. 

, „ There was also a {j^reat intellectual movement. 

Intellect- ^ 

u:ii iiiovt- The invention of printing', (It lO-;')!)), followed by 
the icN ival of ancient learninff, awakened the scholar 
from a lon;^-endurinp; trance. lie Ibund mon; to learn, 
more to teach, and above all, a lar^n*r circle by whom his 
studies would be encouraj^ed and his teachings received. 
The poet and the artist imbibed fresh inspiration from tin; 
increasinti: culture of the times ; whatever was the vocation 
of the mind, it was at once eidarL'^ctl and ennobled. If this 
were the proper j)lace to cite examples, we should turn to 
Italy, whose scholarship, whose poetry, and whose art never 
shone out together with greater lustre than during the 
fifteenth century. Tlie glow spread to other nations in 
their turn. 

jj^ j..^i The great moral movement of the period was the 

move- most woudcHul of all. For ages, the spirit of man 
*"^" seemed to have ceased to act, except in the narrow 
and darksome limits prescribed by authority. Here and 
tliere an individual had appeared to plead for the freedom 
and the iaith of the Christian, but never with permanent 
success, often with hnmedlate failure. At the later time of 
which we s})eak, there was a spiritual restlessness, too general 
and too strong to be rei)ressed. INIen tore the bandages 
from their <yes ; they shook the shackles from their arms : 
and though long submission had rendered them incapable 
of eifective exertion, tlu'V did not exert tliem-clves in vain. 
At the end of the century, a reformer aj)peared in Italy, 
close to the centre of Christendom at Rome, in the person 
of the friar Savonarola, (1452-98,) whose rebukes of cor- 
rujjtion and of oppression were forerunners of the greater 
retbrmation that was to come. 



EUROPE BEFORE 1492. 5 

General ^ there is Riij single impression to be derived 
eieva- from movements so various, it is that of the eleva- 
tion of classes hitherto feeble and degraded. The 
voyagers, the students, and above all, the earnest be- 
lievers of the period, sprang, in many cases, from what 
were called the lower orders ; and back upon the same 
orders, in all cases, descended more or less of the benefits 
resulting from the deeds that were achieved. But we are 
not to suppose that human nature was changed, or that the 
improvement in men, in their character or their condition, was 
instantaneous. The work now going on had been begun, so 
far as its higher elements were concerned, ages and ages 
before. It would require ages and ages to come before it 
could be in any degree completed. 
,. Another movement of the times was more limited 

Monar- 
chy in in its relations and its eflects. This was the rising 

urope. ^^ ^j^^ modern monarchies from out the strife, direct 
and indirect, in which they had long been engaged with the 
Papal authority. The monarchical power, at first nothing 
more than the substitution of one oppressive dominion in 
the place of another, or in the place of another combined 
with itself, of course affected its possessors rather than its 
subjects. But as the preparatory process by which more 
liberal constitutions might be ultimately reared, the inde- 
pendence of the European monarchies was the great polit- 
ical revolution of the period. Prominent amongst the 
individual figures of sovereigns were Louis the Eleventh 
of France, (1461-83,) Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 
(1479-1506,) and Henry the Seventh of England, (1485- 
1509.) 

jj.g^^^_ Amid these changing systems, these varying 
ery of efforts, the middle ages passed away, and the 

merica. jjjQ^gj.jj ^^^^ began. If there is any occurrence 
to stand as the first upon the newly-opened rolls, it is that 
1* 



6 TART I. 1492-1G38. 

which cfimo in soason at onoo to profit by tho time and to 
quicken its advance Had the ev<Mit taken phice before, or 
long before, it would have been lost in the silence and the 
stajxnation that had prevailed ; had it not taken place when, 
it did, or soon after, many of the desires to which men were 
freshly stinrd, many of the resources with which they were 
freshly provided mi;rlit have failed for want of object and of 
devt'lopment. The event of so much signiiicance wa;^ tho 
discovery of America in 1492. 



^ CHAPTER II. 

Columbus. 

Early CHRISTOPHER CoLUMBus * was born in Genoa, 

^^^*^- about the year 1435. Following the sea from the 
age of fourteen, he was attracted, some twenty years after- 
wards, to Lisbon, then the centre of maritime enterprise. 
There Columbus married the daughter of an Italian naviga- 
tor in the service of Portugal ; there he renewed the 
studies and the experiences of earlier manhood ; there, 
after a residence in one of the Madeira Islands, far out in 
the Atlantic, he made known his project of crossing the 
entire ocean. He was then close upon the age of forty, 
(1474) 

Both reflection and tradition suo;o;ested the possi- 

Project . . oo 1 

of (lis- bility of reaching the farther East across the west- 
covery. ^j,^ g^^g^ ^ report among the northern nations 
told of voyages from Iceland to Greenland, and thence to 
Vinland, the Land c^ the Vine, wiiere settlements had been 
made, but abandoned. Still more familiar were the trav- 
ellers' tales of Marco Polo, the Venetian, (129o,)t and of Sir 
John Mandeville, the Englishman, (1364,)t who painted in 
glowing colors the provinces and the islands, the cities and 
the palaces of the Grand Khan of Tartary upon the east- 
em shores of Asia. It was to seek these realms, with the 



* In Italian, Colombo ; in Spanish, Colon. 
t Dates of their return. 

(7) 



8 PART I. Il{ft-1G3S. 

niairnifioonoo of which all Eiiropo had lonjj boon rinjrmf]^, 
tliat Colimihiis j)rojn)S('(l to sail wostwai'd. liut, however 
sii]>i)()rt<'(l hy rumor or l>y arLnmiciit, his jtlaiis met with no 
eiu'onra}X''nient. Their rejection by the Portup^ue.se court 
(1 184) threw him back iij)on his native Genoa, then upon 
other sta^s, and finally upon vSpain. Ei<:hteen years ii^^^U 
of rebufffmd of hostility had been endured, when Isabella 
of Castile yielded to the earnestness and lofty visions of tlie 
Italian, already an elderly man, (A})ril 17, 1492.) 
His mo- 'i'li^ mere fact of his age prevents our ascribing 
lives. selfish or covetous motives to Columbus. Doubt- 
less he had his schemes of achieving lame and fortune, as 
well for himself as for the sovereigns by whom he was sus- 
tained. The compact with Ferdinand and Isabella pro- 
vided that Columbus should bear and bequeath to his heirs 
the titles of Admiral and Viceroy of all the lands discov- 
ered by him, together with the right to one tenth of the 
revenues exj)ected from the same. But there were higher 
ends to which he more ardently aspired. The journal of 
his voyage begins with reminding Ferdinand and Isabella, 
to whom it is addressed, of their determination to send him 
to " the lands of India," and to " a prince who is called the 
Grand Khan," " to see the said prince and the people and 
lands, and discover the nature and disposition of them, and 
the means to be taken for the conversion of them to our 
holy faith." * He elsewhere repeats an assurance that he 
had made in presence of the sovereigns : " Whatever I gain 
from this enterprise of mine shall be expended in the con- 
quest of Jerusalem." The conversion of the unbelievers, 
succeeded by the rescue of the holy sepulchre from the 
bands of those still unconverted, fill in the background of 
the design which Columbus had conceived, the foreground 

* Mr. Ining's translation iu his Life of Coliimbus, Book III. Chap. I. 



COLUMBUS. 9 

alone being occupied by the land to which he was pointing 

the way. 

^ In this spirit Columbus set sail from Palos, with 

Voj'age ^ ^ ' 

of dig- three small vessels and with one hundred and 
covery. ^^gjjty Companions, at dawn on Friday, August 3, 
1492. Ten weeks afterwards, at dawn on Friday, October 
12, he reached the shores of an island, of which, as soon as 
he could disembark in solemn state, he took possession with 
prayers and thanksgivings, under the name of San Salvador, 
or Holy Saviour. For nearly three months he cruised 
amongst the Bahamas and the larger islands to the south- 
west, one of which, Cuba, he supposed to be the continent 
of Asia, while another, Hispaniola, was taken to be an 
island of great beauty and wealth described by Oriental 
voyagers as lying off the Asiatic coast. Leaving a garri- 
son on the latter island, and taking a few natives in his 
train, Columbus retraced his course, arriving off the Tagus 
on the 4th, and at Palos on the 15 th of March, 1493. 
He had found, as he thought, nothing more than he had 
proposed, and the name of JVest Indies was therefore given 
to his discoveries. 

Although thus regarded as a part of the earth 

The West <~> o i 

the pos- ah-eady visited by Europeans, the West Indies were 
Bession more than sufficient to satisfy the discoverer and 

of Spam. _ _ "^ 

his sovereigns. So favorable were his accounts of 
the route across the sea, and of the treasures to which it 
led, in the form of precious metals, jewels, and spices, as 
well as of beautiful and boundless lands, that 'all Spain was 
♦stirred with wonder and exultation. The first thought with 
the rulers was to make sure of their acquisitions, the more 
so as Portugal was known to have an eye upon discoveries 
in the same direction. Accordingly the Spanish sovereigns 
had recourse to the Pope of Rome, who had previously 
confirmed the claim of the Portuguese to the countries on 



10 I'AILT 1. li'J2-lG;i.S. 

and boyoiul tlu^ African coast. A Pai)al bull wa.s issued, 
declaring JVrUiiral jjosscsscd only of wliat nH_i:;lit be dis- 
covered on the east of a line "• Ironi the north to the south 
pole, a hundred Ieag;ues to the west of tlie Azores," while 
all to the west of the line was secured to the Spaniards. 
In the following year (1491) the Portuguese acquiesced 
in a «li\ ision acconling to a line drawn, not one hundred, 
but three hundred and seventy, leagues to tlie west of the 
Azores, or Cape Verd Islands. Yet this did not j)i'i\riit 
tli« in i'rom pushing their discoveries northward and south- 
ward within the limits of the Spaniards. Still less did the 
award of Home aliect the enterprise of other nations, as 
will be seen hereal'ter. 

The Spaniai'ds, however, were long the most acr- 
voyages tivc in ex))lormg and m occupyuig then* Indies. 

ofCoium- ]s;^3(^ to six-ak of many other expeditions, in which 
bus. ^, ^ , / , ^ 

all sorts of men look ])art, three more wer(3 con- 
ducted by Colum1)us himself. On liis second voyage 
(1 193-9 G) he founded the first town, and engaged in the 
first wai' in wliicli Europeans were concerned on the western 
shores. The town, named Isabella, was in Ilispaniola ; 
the wai' was waged with the natives of the same island. 
It was at the end of this voyage that the first slaves from 
America were taken to Europe. His third voyage (1498- 
1500) brought Columbus to the contment, which he sup- 
posed himself to have reached on the shore of Cuba, but 
which he did not see until neai* the Island of Trinidad, 
off the nortIi(?rn coast of South America, (1498.)* He 
soon became involved in the first serious dissensions • 
amongst the Europeans in the Indies, and was sent home 
from Ilispaniola in chams. It was not long after that 
the first negro slaves from Spain t wei-e trans})orted to 

♦ The Cabots reached the continent in 1497. See Chapter V. 
t The first from Africa did not go before IJll. 



COLUMBUS. 11 

the Spanish colonies, (1502,) but not by Cokimbus. He, 
liberated by the sovereigns, made his fourth and last 
voyage, (1502-4,) during which he attempted the first 
colony upon the continent near the River Belen, on the 
Isthmus of Panama. He had met with far more nu- 
merous failures than successes, when he returned to Spain 
after an almost uninterrupted service of thirteen years. 
Others, following in his steps, had met with greater 
rewards than he ; but the dreams of the voyagers and of 
then* countrymen were still to be fulfilled. 
His spir- Infirm and injured as he was and as he had been, 
^*- Columbus never lost heart. Even when just set 

free from his fetters, at the end of his third voyage, he had 
written to the Spanish sovereigns and to the Roman pontiff* 
of his unshaken determination to extend the Christian faith 
and to recover the sepulchre at Jerusalem. The same 
objects were commended in his will to his posterity. In- 
deed, it seems as if he clung to his religious purposes the 
more earnestly as his worldly projects failed. A few months 
passed after his final return, and the aged discoverer sank 
to rest, seventy years old, (May 20, 1506.) 
Name ^^^ Spirit, SO free from irresolution and from 

of Amer- worldly pride, has descended in part, it is to be hoped, 
upon the lands to which he led the way. But they 
bear another name. Amerigo Vespucci, a native of Flor- 
ence, but a resident in Spain at the time of Columbus's dis- 
covery, subsequently sailed to the west in the service of 
Spain, and then of Portugal. His descriptions of the con- 
tinent which he reached, and which he portrayed as possess- 
ing all the attributes of a newly-discovered one, induced a 
German geographer to coin the name of America about 
the time that Columbus died, (1507;) 
A new Vespucci was far from conceiving or conveying 
world, ^jjg truth concerning America. Voyages in the 



12 TART I. M02-ir.nS. 

iiortli, to ^vlli(•]l w." shall iwcrt, lia.l aln'a.ly (1107-08) be- 
gun to reveal the real eharaeler of the new shores. But it 
w<as some years before Cuba was found to be merely an 
island, (1508,) and it was still lon-.-r before the racific was 
reached aeross the isthnuis in the centre, (1513,) and 
throu^di the straits cm the south of the continent, (1520.) 
Slowly and woiuh-rin.Ldy it was learned that Columbus had 
discovered a new world. 



Spanish 



CHAPTER III. 

Spanish Settlements. 

From almost every point hitherto gained in 
adven- America, as well as from the shores of Spain, ad- 
ventures, some great, some small, some national, 
some individual, were urged by the Spaniards in all direc- 
tions. The West Indies, at first the whole, soon became 
the mere centre of the Spanish possessions. 

The first to reach the territory of the present 

Ponce de j \. 

Leon in United States was Ponce de Leon, a companion of 
Columbus. Long visited by dreams of riches, and 
latterly, in his advancing age, excited by rumors of a foun- 
tain in which youth might be renewed. Ponce set sail from 
Porto Rico in search of the treasures in the north. On 
Easter Sunday, — in the Spanish calendar Pascua Florida, 
— he descried a land to which, in his mingled visions of 
resurrection and of abundance, he gave the name of Florida 
or Flower-land, (1512.) Nine years later, with a com- 
mission from the Spanish crown, as governor of Florida, 
Ponce returned to conquer and to colonize his discovery. 
But driven oiF by the natives of the coast, the old adven- 
turer left Florida to return no more, (1521.) 

. A series of expeditions had already begun to 

expedi- scour the Atlantic coast. The Portuguese Cor- 
tereal had led the way, twenty years before, m a 
cruise towards the north, (1501.) A line of Spanish ad- 
venturers, intent upon treasure and conquest, succeeded. 
2 (13) 



1-i TAllT 1. 1-1'J2-1638. 

Vasquoz do Ayllon twice made descents upon Cliicora, tlie 
later Carolina, (lo20-24.) Gomez sailed farther to the 
north in ([uest of a western j)assage to richer lands, (ir>2').) 
Pam})hilo de Narvaez tried his fortune in Florida, (ir>28,) 
whither also De Soto directed his greater expedition, and 
pursued his wanderings northward and westward (1530-4o) 
with no gn-atcr reward than the discovery of the Mississij)pi, 
(l.Vll.) At tlic same tinic, Vasquez Coronado was })ene- 
trating from ^Icxico high up into the interior, (ir>-l(>— 12,) 
while De ( al)i-illo (IT) 12) was coasting the Pacific sliore, 
and, tliough dying on the voyage, leaving his pilot, Fei-relo, 
to ascend as far as Oregon, (lo4^.) Of these western ex- 
plorations then^ were few if any results to satisfy the 
explorers. Nor were the adv<'nturers in the east heiter 
contented; the only ones to gain any thing being th(>se who 
hided their shij)S with slaves. The natives had been pressed 
into bondage almost from the moment when they were first 
seen in the AVest Indies. 

Luis do -A. figure of more Christian aspect appears in 

CaiKciio. Luis de Cancello, a Dominican friar. Obtaining 
an order from Spain that all the slaves from the northern 
shore of the Gulf of Mexico should be returned, he set 
sail with such as he could collect. Instead of proposing to 
conquer the natives, he went with the hope of converting 
tiieni to a religion of peace. But in his first interview with 
them on the coast, he and two j)riests accompanying liim 
were slain, (1549.) 

Moien- Nearly twenty years elapsed, and our soil w\i3 

dez. q^jij unoccupied by the Spaniards. At length a 

veteran commander, Melendez de Avilez, engaged to com- 
plete the conquest and to commence the colonization of 
Florida, with a tniin of soldiers, priests, and negro slaves, 
lie was of a stern temper, without a vision of romance or a 
touch of sensibility to turn him from the severe enterprise 



SPANISH SETTLEMENTS. 15 

which he had assumed. He began with the foundation of St. 
Augustine, (September 8, 1565,) the oldest town in the 
United States. Then he routed and slew some French 
settlers who had lately encamped upon the ground claimed 
by Spain * and whose destruction had been one of the great 
incentives to his expedition. Where they fell most tliickly, 
the conqueror marked out the site of a Christian church. 
The colony thus resolutely founded brought none of the rich 
returns that had been looked for ; but it was not abandoned. 
DeEspe- Fifteen years afterwards, the expeditions from 
jioand Mexico were renewed by Ruiz (1580) and De 
izcamo. £gp^j-Q^ (1581,) the latter of whom, followed by 
soldiers and Indians, marched northward, until he named 
the country New Mexico, and founded the settlement of 
Santa Fe, the second town of the United States in point 
of age. Twenty years later, (1602,) a squadi'on under Se- 
bastiano Vizcaino explored the Californian shore, bestow- 
ing upon its headlands and its bays many of the names 
which they still bear. It was Vizcaino's hope to colonize 
the coast, but he died in the midst of his schemes, (1608.) 
Motives '^^^^ motives of the Spanish settler, as we per- 
ceive, were partly of a high and partly of a low 
nature^ Devoted to great aims and to generous deeds, he 
encountered, as Luis de Cancello did in Florida, the perils 
of an unknown shore, iii order to impart to others the faith 
in which he lived and for which- he was willing to die. But 
in another aspect the Spanish character grows dark and 
threatening. Men, like the greater part of those who have 
been mentioned, sought our land for gold or for dominion ; 
sometimes, indeed, with a national object, but more gener- 
ally for merely selfish ends. Motives of this sort led to 
scenes of cruelty and of carnage, on which it is, fortunately, 
unnecessary to dwell. 

* See the next chapter. 



16 PAET T. 1492-1 f;38. 

The institutions of Spain woro tlio'^o of nn abso- 
tioua, ^^^^'' iiionarchy. Tlioy k'lit but little aid to the devel- 
opment of the better elements in the national charac- 
ter. Indeed, they rather encouraj^ed the opposite elements, 
both before and after the colonies of the nation were 
founded. A military rule was the only })olitical institution 
of Florida. It was in the hands of a few otficials, whose 
authority was kept up at the sacrifice of the general prog- 
ress of the settlements. A rigid system of trade, uphold- 
ing a monopoly in favor of the government, or of the 
capitalists dependent on the government at home, increased 
the obstacles with which the colony had to contend. 

Coming with these motives and under these insti- 
Circum- tutions, the Si)aniards found themselves in circum- 
Stances of similar tendency. Choosing the south 
for their first, and, as it proved, their only settlements, from 
its promising the richest harvest, they met the infiuences 
springing from the air above them and from the earth 
beneath them. The habits of indulgence and of repose 
which ensued were any thing but favorable to character or 
to prosperity. 

Extent of ^^^^"^ ^^*^ ^^^ bctwccn were the Spanish settle- 
Spanish mcnts. But the Si)anish claims were uffiversal. 
In the first place, there was the papal bull of 1493, 
conveying a right to all America. In the next place, there 
were the successive discoverers from Ponce de Leon to 
Vizcaino, whose labors had won the continent anew. The 
name of Florida was stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; that of New Mexico was made 
equally extensive in the interior and on the west. Could 
names, and deeds, and papal bulls have suificed to support 
the Spanish clahu, it would have prevailed throughout the 
United States. 



CHAPTER IV. 

French Settlements. 

jjg^ The approaches of France to our country were 

France, made, first by fishermen, (1504,) and then by navi- 
gators. A Florentine, Verrazzani, in the French ser- 
vice, sailing along the coast from Florida to Ne^vfound- 
land, was not deterred by any previous discoveries from 
giving to the continent the name of New France^ (1524.) 
Ten years after, the Frenchman Cartier renewed the name 
in voyages in and about the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
(1534-42.) 

Nothing, however, was done in a persevering 

Carolina. r. i i • -i » t • 

Fate of its Way to lix the name upon the territory, until Admi- 
Hugue- j.jji Dg Coligny conceived the idea of a colony to 
which his brother Protestants, the Huguenots, might 
repair for refuge against persecution in France. After 
faihng to make a settlement in South America, De Coligny 
despatched a party to the northern coast, where a fort, 
named Carolina in honor of the French kmg, Charles, was 
erected near Port Royal in the present South Carolina, 
(1562.) This settlement likewise falling through, another 
was made upon the St. John's in Florida, where a second 
Fort Carolina was reared, (1564.) The mutinous dispo- 
sitions of the colonists had already begun to threaten the 
existence of the settlement, when it was annihilated by the 
Spanish force under Melendez de Avilez, (1565.) Such 
of the French as did not escape or fall in battle were put 
2 * (17) 



18 PAliT T. 1402-1G38. 

to (loath by the Spaniard and tlio Catliolio, " not as Fronoh- 
mcn," he is said to have declared, "hut as Lutherans." 
SucJi was the uuliajjpy late of tlie iirst l"u;,Mtives from tlie 
old worUl to tlie new. 01>jeets at onee of relij^ious and of 
national animosity, they were pursued by enemies enlisted 
against them as on a erusade. The passions of Europe 
obtained fresh space in America ; the feeble fell, the strong 
triumphed as they had done in older hinds. 

But there was something inspiring, after all, in 
tio^to the associations of the western shore. If the fugi- 
avenge ^ivcs tliitlier wore murdered by their foes, they were 

tluiii. , 

not forgotten by their friends. Ihree years after 
their victory, the Spaniards were surprised on the same 
ground by a French expedition under De Gourgues, a sol- 
dier of Gascony, who had sold his estate in order to avenge 
liis fallen countrymen. He took the Spanish forts, and 
hunir his })risoners, with the inscription above them, " Not 
as Spaniards or Mariners, but as Traitors, Robbers, and 
Assassins." Thus was our soil a second time darkened 
with the slaughter of strangers. Without waiting an attack 
from the Spaniards at St. Augustine, De Gourgues sailed 
home, the last of the French to attempt the possession of 
Florida or of CaroHna, (1568.) 

A long period elapsed before the French reap- 

Acatlie , „ , . . 

an.i peared, except as nshermcn or as traders, in any 

Maine. ^^.^ ^jp America. At length, a grant of all the 
and Do territory from Pennsylvania to New Brunswick, 
Saussaye. y,^^]gj. ^j^g name of Acadie, was made by Henry 
IV. of France to the Sieur de Monts, (1603,) one of whose 
officers, Poutrincourt, made the first permanent settlement 
of Frenchmen in America at Port Royal, (1004,) since 
Annapolis. A })lan of De I\Ionts to make a settlement 
u})on Ca])C Cod, though twice attempted, wa-^ given up on 
account of the hostility of the natives, (1G0j-06.) Some 



FRENCH SETTLEMENTS. 19 

years afterwards, one or two Jesuit missionaries crossed 
over from that part of Acadie which was occupied, to a 
part as yet unoccupied, within the limits of the present 
Maine, (1612.) They were followed the next year, by De 
Saussaye, the agent of Madame de Guercheville to whom 
the earrlier grant to De Monts was now reconveyed; the 
limits being extended so far as to reach from Florida to the 
St. Lawrence. De Saussaye, accompanied by a few Jes- 
uits, began the colony of St. Sauveur upon Mount Desert 
Island, off the coast of Maine, (1613.) It was hardly be- 
gun, however, before it was broken up by an attack from 
an English armed vessel belonging to the then rising colony 
of Virginia. 

_ - Meantime the banners of France had been car- 

Canada. 

Cham- ried up the St. LaAvi'ence. Champlain, the greatest 
^ ^^°* leader whom the French had as yet followed to the 
west, laid the foundations of Quebec in the heart of the 
province of Canada, (1608.) The next year, forming au 
alliance with the Algonquins, then at war with the Iroquois 
or Five Nations of New York, he marched southward to 
the lake which bears his name, (1609.) Six years later, 
he took the lead in another foray M^hich penetrated the 
forests on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, (1615.) 
A new way appeared to be open to French settlements in 
the United States. 

Collisions But nothing followed. The English arms, after 
with the ^jj interval of several years, were carried ao;ainst 

English. -^ '^ 

the northern settlements of the French. Acadie, 
already made the subject of an English grant, and Canada 
were conquered, but restored, (1628-32.) Then the French 
came down in their turn, and drove the English from the 
trading posts established by the Plymouth colony on the 
Maine coast, (1631-35.) The attempts to repel them 
were in vain ; on the contrary, they forbade the English to 



20 PAIIT I. 1192-1G38. 

pass Pcmaquid, a point miilway between the Kennebec and 
tlie Penobscot. Tlie interior was at tlie same time in the 
oeeii[)ation of the French priests, if of any Europeans. 
Priests '^^^^ priests and the missionaries of France were 

and mis- the most prominent amongst her settlers. They 

Bioiiarie.s. r ^^ l^^ . /•/••)!•• 

came lull oi adventure as ot fauii, hesitatm;]^ at no 
danger, slirinking from no sacrifice. That there should be 
some less worthy amongst the number was a matter of 
course. It was (Mjually natural lliat, among the most wor- 
thy, there should be many to magnify their work, to count 
their converts too freely, and to o})pose their antagonists loo 
fiercely. But taken all in all, the French missionaries have 
hardly received the place that they deserve in our history. 
What they were juid what they did will appear more 
clearly at a later jjcriod. 

other With the priest came the soldier, the explorer, 

settlers. .j,jj ^j^^ trader, all animated by the love of enter- 
l)rise, to say nothing of its rewards in fame or in riches. 
They form a less sinister group than the Spanish settlers, 
more supjde, more gay, though by no means more gallant 
or more adventurous. 

in^utu- Much of the difference may be ascrilx-d to the 
tions. influence of the French institutions. Tiiese, at the 
tim(; in question, were the institutions of a comparatively 
limited monarchy. li' there were arbitraiy influences in 
the government, sufficient, as we shall hereafter observe, to 
oppress its subjects and its colonies, there was also some- 
thing of a more generous nature, by which the devotedness 
of the missionary, the bravery of the soldier, and the zeal 
of the adventurer were sustained. 

Circum- The circumstances in which the French settlers 
Ktancea. y^r^,J,^, ^^\i^^.^,^\ tended to confirm all their enterprise 
and all their fortitude. Abandoning the southern Carolina 
ami drawing in the limits of Aciidic on the south, they were 



FRENCH SETTLEMENTS. 21 

for a long time concentrated upon northern shores and in 
northern valleys. In these lands, adventure was not to be 
pursued, nor was sustenance to be obtauaed, without energy 
and hardihood. 

In followincr the French into Acadie and Canada, 

Extent of ^ ,,■,•• /> i tt • i 

French wc havc gouc far beyond the limits ot the United 
claims, gj^^gg^ 35ut their Acadie embraced our Maine, or 
a large portion of it ; thfeir Canada comprehended our Ver- 
mont and our New York, or lai^ge portions of them ; not to 
speak of the western regions afterwards included in the 
same province. We shall return to the French at the 
epoch of their later acquisitions. For the present, we 
leave the name of New France, bestowed by Verrazzani 
and Cartier in their voyages, and confirmed by Poutrin- 
court, Champlain, and De Saussaye, in their settlements, 
extending in immense proportions along the seaboard and 
in the interior. It was a title to be set against the Florida 
and the New Mexico of Spain. 



CIIArTKR V. 

English Skttlkments. 

Sectiox I. — Early Movements. 1192 (o 1606. 
The Enirlisli were fiist connected with America 

England '^ 

aiHiCiv tlin)u;j;li Colinnbus. AVlien his pUms of discovny 
luuibus. ^^.^,^,^, declined hy the Portuguese court, lie sent liis 
brotlier Bartlioloniew to make the same offers to Henry 
VII. of Enghmd, (1484.) Bartholomew, long upon his 
way and upon his return, was bringing back some favorable 
})roposals from the English king just as Christopher was 
returning i'rom his first voyage, (1493.) It was too late 
for England to obtain the services of Columbus. 

But it was just in time for England to profit by 

V oyages " '^ . 

of tiio his discoveries. Both the king and his subjects, at 
Cabots. j^^^j. ^jj^g^ Qf ijjg sui)ject3 who werc interested in 
navigation, seem to have caught the impulse naturally 
springing from such an enterprise as had been achieved. 
AVithin three years from the first return of Columbus, Henry 
authorized a Venetian then belonging to Bristol, John 
Cabot, with his three sons, to stait an expedition at their 
own expense, in order to do whatever they could for them- 
selv(>s, and at the same time to set up the banners of the 
English monarch, as his vassals and deputies, upon the 
lands sn))posed to exist northward of those discovered by 
Columbus, (140(1.) The Cabots, setting sail in the follow- 
ing year, (141)7,) reached a shore called by them Prima 

(22) 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 23 

Vista, the First View, since known by the name of 
Labrador. It was more than a year before the continent 
was gained by Columbus. Another voyage, made a year 
later (1498) by Sebastian Cabot, the second son of John, 
and a native of England, was directed along the coast of 
the new continent from the latitude of Labrador to that of 
the Chesapeake. 

So successful a beorinninp; auffured s-reat ends. 

Interval, -r, , -,,.,. 

Gilbert -D^t there ensued a long mterval, m which none but 
^^^ isolated and remote adventures towards the west 

Drake. 

were undertaken in England. The fisheries of the 
north were for many years the only objects of attraction in 
the direction of Amerioa. Then the opening of hostilities, 
at first rather of a private or piratical than of a national 
character, against Spain,* drew the English towards the 
southern regions. But the central territories, those of 
the present United States, were long unvisited except for 
some passing purpose. More than three quarters of a cen- 
tury had elapsed since the coasting voyage of Sebastian 
Cabot, and both the Spaniards and the French had several 
times seized upon the shores discovered by the English 
navigators, when a new permission to possess and settle the 
western lands was given by Queen Elizabeth to one of her 
noblest subjects. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, (1578.) At the 
same period, while Sir Francis Drake, the half hero, half 
freebooter of the English navy, was on his voyage of ad- 
venture and plunder round the world, he gave the name of 
New Albion to the coasts of California and Oregon. Thus 
gaining a foothold on the western as well as on the eastern 
side of the continent, England was recalled, at a moment 
of general activity throughout the nation, to her interests in 
America. 

* Beginning about 1570, though there was no formal war until 1585. 



21 TAKT I. 14'Jl!-1638. 

Sir lluin])lirt'y CJilUrt ncrislRMl in the course of 
a second attempt to reach his Ainericiin possessions, 
(1583.) But his chiims were immediately transferred to 
his half brother, Widter liiileigh, the courtier and the 
cavalier of the age in England, (1584.) A voyage of 
exploration was immediately made under his directions to 
the coast of our North Carolina, of which so flattering an 
account wius returned to him and to his sovereign, that the 
name of Virginia, from the virgin Queen Elizabeth, was 
not thought too great for the new land. 
Failures ^" ^^^^ following year, (1585,) Sir Richard Gren- 
ofhiH ville, one of the chief commanders of the time, lefl 
cooniefl. ^ (^.olony of ouc hundred and eighty persons at 
Roanoke Island ; but such were the hardships which they 
encountered, that they w^ere only too well satisfied to be 
taken home by Sir Francis Drake a year aflerwards. 
They had scarcely gone when Grenville returned with 
su})plies for them, and he, unwilling to have the colony 
abandoned, left fifteen of his mariners to keep possession 
until they could be reenforced, (158G.) The little band 
wa> gone, murdered, it was believed, by the natives, when, 
in the next year, (1587,) a fresh party of one hundred 
and seventeen arrived. Soon after they came, the first 
English child to see the light in America was born. She 
was tlie daughter of Ananias Dare, and the granddaughter 
of John White, the leader of the expedition, who gave her 
the name of Virginia. But the presence of the infant 
brought no better fate to the colony than had befallen itiJ 
predecessors. The one hundred and eighteen disappeared, 
and though sought for at various times, were never heard 
of more. Raleigh lost heart as well as means. He made 
over his patent to a number of persons, (1589,) who, with 
less enterprise than he, met with still less success. North 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 25 

Carolina was but a waste as far as English settlements 
were concerned, and Virginia but a name. 
Gosnoid Many years passed before any further attempts 
and were made to occupy the American coast. The 
'^ ^^^^' cessation of hostilities with Spain* at length re- 
opened the way to commercial and colonial enterprise. 
Bartholomew Gosnoid, after landing on Cape Cod, sailed 
thence to Buzzard's Bay, where, on Elizabeth's Island, 
named after his queen, he commenced, but soon abandoned, 
a settlement, (1602.) The adjoining coasts were revisited 
the next year (1603) by Martin Pring, and again, the next 
year but one, (1605,) by George Weymouth, both, like 
Gosnoid, commanders of distinction. The preparation for 
settlements was decidedly resumed. 

It was high time. The Spaniards had their St. 
cess of Augustine and their Santa Fe, the French their 
the Eng- p^j.^; Royal, though this was beyond the limits of 
our United States. But the English, the first to 
discover the coast, were still without a single foothold upon 
it. Wherever they had gained one, it had slipped from 
beneath them. 



Section II. — Compa^iies. 1606 fo 1635. 

^^ ^^^ Hitherto the efforts of the English in exploring 

ized and in settling the American shore had been those 
e or s. ^£ individuals. No one, indeed, unless it were 
those who went on voyages for fishery or for trade, at- 
tempted his enterprise without the formal countenance of 
the sovereign. But there had been no organized efforts 
such as were now prepared. 

* 1604. But it was some time since the war had been generally car- 
ried on. 

3 



26 PAIIT I. 1492-1G38. 

Patent of A year or two aiU'r James I. succeeded to the 
VirK'iniu. Eurrlish tliroiie, lie issued the patent of Virginiju 
This was a twofold grant of the Anieriean territory 
from what is now Nortli Carolina to what is now Maine. 
Of lliis vast tract, the soiitlicrly half* was appropriated to 
the First Colony, and the northrrly t to the Second Colony, 
each colony to be founded and governed l)y a separate 
conncil, to wliicli the grant was made. The council or com- 
l)any, as it is generally styled, of the First Colony went by 
the name of London, from tlu': residence of its prominent 
members. For a similar rea-on, the name of Plymouth 
was given to the council or comi)any of the Second Colony. 
The great point, however, is this, that the parties to the 
patent were not colonists, but capitalists, not adventurers, 
but speculators, who, in their respective corporations in 
England, not in America, were declared possessors of the 
best portion of the American territory. At the same time, 
the companies were invested with ample })owers to settle 
"colonists and servants," to impose duties, and to coin 
money. Their obligations, in return, were to pay over to 
the crown a share of their profits, J and to support the laws 
and the church of P^ngland. To exercise some sort of 
sui)ervision over so great corporations lu? these, a council 
for Virginia was instituted by the king, who, to complete 
his work, put forth a code of laws and regulations for the 
direction of the various bodies which he had created. 

* From lat. 34° to lat. 38°, with a right, if first in the field, to make 
settlements as far north as 41°. 

t From lat. 41° to lat. 45°, vdih a right, if first in the field, to make 
settlements as far south as 38°. 

+ One fifth of the gold and silver, and one fifteenth of the copper, that 
might be found. 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 27 



THE LONDON COMPANY. 



Members ^^^^ moviiig Spirit of tlie London Company ap- 
aud pears to have been Richard Hakhiyt, prebendary 

CO onis s. ^^ i^rigtol, afterwards of Westminster, who had been 
interested in American colonization from the time of Ra- 
leigh's expeditions. Around him were gathered many 
eminent and energetic men, among them Sir George Cal- 
vert, the future founder of Maryland, but none of greater 
promise, in relation to the work before them, than Barthol- 
omew Gosnold, the settler of Ehzabeth's Island, and John 
Smith, a hero in the east long before he turned his face 
westward. Gosnold and Smith were both amongst the first 
colonists. 

James- I* was in midwinter, (December 19, 1606,) that 
town. r^jj expedition, one hundred strong, set out from 
England. A feeble band as regarded their indi\4dual re- 
sources, they were strong in the company by which they 
were sent to stranger shores. The voyage was long, by 
the common route of the West Indies, but Virginia was 
reached at last. The spring (May 13, 1607) saw the 
beginning of the first English town in America. Its royal 
name of Jamestown is now a name alone. 
New The company had hardly begun its work when 

charters, jt souglit new powers. Three years after the 
patent, a second charter was framed, giving additional 
authority to the English company, and extending the 
American lunits to the latitude of Philadelphia, (1609.) 
Three years later, (1612,) a third charter vested the powers 
of the company in a General Court of the members, and 
added the Bermuda Islands to their domains. If charters 
were all that the company needed in order to flourish, it 
bade fair to be great and enduring. 

The fortunes of the colony w^ere less promising. Some- 



28 TAUT !. 1102-1038. 

„ . times at police, sometimes at war* with the natives,, 
of th." sometimes contented, sometimes despairinj^ amongst 
themselves, the colonists went through great vicis- 
situdes. One cau><; of lecl)h*ness is i)lain enougli ; it is the 
entire dependence of the colony upon tiie com})any and the 
company's representatives. Another cause of (mjuuI mo- 
ment was the variety of rank and of character in the 
colony. Tlie gentleman and the felon, the ardent seeker 
after adventure and the ])atient toiler ibr sub.-istenee, the 
Ireenian, the a})prentice, and the slave,t made up a com- 
nnuiity too mixed to possess any steadiness of growth. 
The three first years, (1007-9,) the colonists hung upon 
John Smith, who had become their president in the year 
following the settlement of Jamestown. It is curious to 
see how he led, rebuked, supported them ; he, as the strong 
man, guiding them, as feeble children. One^ear, (IGIO,) 
the colony is all but abandoned; another, (1G13,) it» is 
strong enough to mjilie the attack already mentioned upon 
the French settlements iii the north. But the tendency to 
increase, though interrupted, continues, and not without 
support from the company in England. 

iiisutu- -^^^^ l^^'-^t step to raise the colonists from a state 
tions. fjf iii^.j-e vassalage was the grant of an estate to 
each settler, (1G15.) The ])rogress from the landholder 
to the freeman followed. Tint colony had been bound, 
as has been stated, to nuiintain the church of P^ngland. 
Its civil authorities consisted, lirst of the English crown 
and l*arlianient, then of the English council, then of 
the English company, by which, according to tlie various 
charters, the local olHcers were appointed. These were, in 
the beginning, a council, with a president ; but in a year or 
two from the beginning, a governor and suite, at lirst with- 

* The Indian wars arc related in Part II. Cliaptor lY. 

t A Dutch man of war brought the first negro slaves, in 1620. 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 29 

out and afterwards with a council. At length, under the 
government of Sir George Yeardley, the freemen of the 
colony, representing eleven corporations or plantations, 
were called, as burgesses, to a General Assembly, to take 
the matter of taxes, besides other affairs of importance, 
mto their own hands, (1G19.) This was the system of 
the colonial constitution granted by the company two years 
afterwards, (1621.) In other words, the executive author- 
ity was in the hands of a governor, the judicial in those of 
a governor and a council, with an appeal to an Assembly, 
and the legislative in that of a governor, a council, and an 
Assembly, all subject to the company, which, of course, 
was subject to the laws and the authorities of England. 

We are apt to exaggerate the importance of the 
fant English settlements, in comparison with those of 
colony, ^j^^ French or the Spanish, or any other nation in 
our countiy. The truth is, that Virginia, hke most of the 
settlements which we shall find in the north, was but an 
infant colony, unable to regulate its trade or its education, 
its habits of life or of thought, except in submission to 
external authorities. One or two examples, occurring under 
the company's jurisdiction, illustrate the dependence of the 
colony during the entire period of which we are now treat- 
ing. A design of a college for native as well as English 
youth, started in England \vith large subscriptions, found 
no fulfilment in Virginia, (1619-21.) Even the want of 
wives was met, not by individual devotion, but by a com- 
pany speculation ; a large number of young women of good 
character being transported to be sold for a hundred and 
twenty, or even a hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco (at 
tlu-ee shilhngs a pound) to the lonely settlers, (1620-21.) 
Fall of Nothing, however, marks the utter dependence 

the com- of the colony so plainly as its inactivity during the 
^'^"^' troubles in which the company became involved. 
3* 



.'{0 PART I. 1492-1638. 

Dissensions amonjrst the nirmlxis, and jealousies anionjxst 
those who were not iu<-inhfr>, led to the royal interi'iTciKM* ; 
tht' n suh hcin^ tin* fall of the coiiipaiiy, with all its exiu-n- 
dituivs* hravy on its head, (1(121.) The colony at this 
time nunihcrrd al)out two thousand, tiic i< lies of nine thou- 
sand who hail hftn >rnt out. Vet Un- all the two thousand 
did to prmc tlwir cxi-tcncc or ihcii- iii(|r|i(iidrnc(*, tlu; 
colony niii^ht have ln'cn >ujij»o-cd to he tht; conipany's 
shadow, too unsuhstantial to snj)port or to oppose the 
jxtwcr to which it owed its bein^. 
, . . Virginia became a roval iirovlnce. The •governor 

^^|•^,'lnla ^ ♦ ' 

n n.vtii and the council received theii- apjtoiiument from the 
kmji, the treemen eontmumg to elect their Assem- 
bly. It was a national government, instead of a corpora- 
tion system, and as such it seemed to relie\ c the X'iririnians. 
At any rate, they grew so much in sj)irit as to make a stand 
against the royal grant of what they considered their terri- 
tory to the proprietor of Maryland. Their governor, John 
Harvey, not taking part with them as they wished, they 
deposed him, and sent him virtually a prisoner to England, 
(1 (').')."),) The king, of course, restored the governor, but 
without reducing the colony to silence or to retribution, 
(1636-37.) The spirit of dependence, however, lingered. 
But the princi|)les of growth and of inde|»endenee 

Growth 1 I o 1 

of the were at work. Among the earliest settlers were 
*^*"^""^' men of culture and of earnestness, men who, like 
Ah'xander Whitaker, "a scholar, a graduate, and a preach- 
er," devoted themselves to the elevaticm of the colony. 
Among the earliest governors were Lord 1 )e la Ware, 
(1011,) and Sir George Yeardley, (ICID-lM.) Ix.lh of 
strong character and of strong inlhience. Around such 
individuals as these there would naturally gather an in- 

♦ Ynnn IlOO.OOO to £1^0,000. 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 31 

creasing number and a liiglier stamp of colonists. The 
interest of the mother country in the colony would natu- 
rally be extended when the dissolution of the company 
opened the way to general emigration and general enter- 
prise. The development of Virginia seemed sure. 

THE PLYIilOUTH COJIPANY. 

Mem- Among the members of the Plymouth Company 

bers. were many personages of distinction. The lord 
chief justice of England, Sir John Popliam, the governor 
of Plymouth, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and two Gilberts, 
kinsmen and successors of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir 
Walter Raleigh, all engaged in the enterprise. The 
higher the rank, however, of individual members in any 
association, the more likely, in most cases, are clashing 
pretensions and menacing divisions. The Plymouth Com- 
pany never held together m such a way as to carry out 
any effective operations. 
^ , . A few members made the first move by sendin": 

Coloniza- J <^ 

tion at- out a colouy of forty-five persons, who encamped 
emp e . ^^^ ^^^ brief year upon an island at the mouth of 
the Kennebec, (1607-8.) Some time elapsed before any 
new expedition was undertaken. Nor would any, it is 
probable, have been undertaken then, but for the active 
agency of John Smith, who, four or five years after his 
return from Virginia, entered the service of the Plymouth 
Company. A careful voyage from the Penobscot to Cape 
Cod impressed him so favorably, that he gave the country 
the name of New England, obtaining for himself the title 
of its admiral, (1614.) But his persevering exertions to 
discharge his office and to colonize his chosen land were 
in vain ; nor was any thing more attempted by the com- 
pany until it was transformed by a new charter into the 



32 PART I. 1192-1G38. 

Council of Plynioutli for New Eii^lainl, Avitli tho ri_tr1>t. 
to all tlif tii-riiojy thmi the latiliid*' of Piiiladdplila to 
that of C'lial. Ill- Hay, (JC^d.) 
Various Kvt'll tlu'll, tllO ColJIlcil foi* Ne\V EllgUuul St't Oil 

proprie- jqqi hq colonization of its own. Its cnerfjies 
comi'ii- sccnictl to Ik' sjxMit HI niakuiiT ;irants to ni(li\ idiials, 
"*''•"• — sonic of tlicni its members, — or to associations, 
])y whom the settlement of New EiiL^land was to be 
accompli-ihcd. Sin;:iilar enoni^h, considering that it was 
New Kngland, a large jjroportion of thes(3 subordinate 
agencies was directed to the establishment of what may- 
be called a number of lordly domains upon the soil. In 
following this succession of proprietors and of companies, 
Ave lose sight of the Council for New England. 

One settlement, originally made without a grant 
Si'ttle- ^ , ., 1 ' 1 , 

mtnt of ii'OJT^ the couucil, was by much the most nn{)ortant 

I'lyui- j•^^y many years. It was on no large scale. Ono. 

outh. -^ •' * 

hundred, and two passengers in the ^Nfay (lower 
landed at a place already called New Plymouth, (D<'cem- 
ber 11, 1G20.) They were a band of Puritans, whose 
extreme })rinciples had led to their exile, first ihnn Eng- 
land to lIoHand, (IG08,) and then from Holland to 
America. Obtaining a grant from the London Company, 
they set sail for Vii'ginia, but landed to the north of that 
province, in the limits of New England. The year follow- 
ing, they procured a patent from the Council for New 
England, (1G21.) But not in their own name; the grant 
being made to one of a company of London merchants, 
with whom they had formed a ]>artnership before sailing 
to the west. The Londoners, holding their title under the 
council, thus constituted a sort of company within a com- 
pany. Nor was it u!itil after six y<'ars, marked by many 
troubles and by many injuries, thai the colonists extricated 
themselves from this twol'old dependence l)y the payment 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 33 

of a large sum to the London merchants, (1626.) The 
difficulties with the merchants had been the least of the 
trials of the Plymouth settlers. Half of the one hundred 
and two of the Mayflower died within a year from the 
landing. " In the time of most distress," says the histo- 
rian of the settlement, Governor Bradford, " there were 
but six or seven sound persons." After disease came 
want ; " all their victuals were spent, and they were only 
to rest on God's providence ; at night not many times 
knowing where to have a bit of any thing the next day." 
When a ship load of fresh immigrants arrived nearly two 
years after, " the best dish they," the earlier comers, " could 
present their friends with, was a lobster or a piece of fish, 
without bread or any thing else but a cup of fair spring 
water." Nevertheless the Pilgrims, as they were called, 
sustained and extended their settlements. A second patent 
from the council was obtained for the country near the 
mouth of the Kennebec, where a trading post was presently 
established, (1628.) The whole extent of settlements, 
both at Plymouth and on the Kennebec, was included in 
a third patent, two years afterwards, (1630.) 

One who reads the history of these times with- 

Its dis- - . , . ,„ 

tiuction <5"t personal or national prepossessions will not 
in his- gj^(j c^ny thing of a very extraordinary character 
in the settlement of Plymouth. They who came 
thither, braving the perils of the unknown sea and the 
unknown shore, were but doing what had been done by 
their countrymen in Virginia, and by others in other settle- 
ments in America. Solemnity is certainly imparted to 
their enterprise by the reflection that they came to main- 
tain the doctrines and laws which their consciences ap- 
proved, but which the authorities of England proscribed. 
Yet the Huguenots of Carolina had done the same thing 
more than half a century before. The true distinction 



84 r.M"!' I- It02-1G38. 

of tlic Puritans of IMyiiumtli is this, tliat thoy relied 
iiixiu tlnin-<l\t'<, tliat they adopted their own institutions 
aiitl (l»v« lojxd ihrir own resources, of course in a fei-hle, 
]>ut not tlie h'ss in a manly maimer. Before tiiey landed, 
they '*<-ove!uuit and e«»nihine themselves to^rether into a 
civil hodv polilic, tu enact such ju<t and e(|ual hiws as sliall 
be thou^'ht mo>t convenient for the •General p;ood of the 
colonv." Tile state thus I'oimded was continued in entire 
indrpnidcnce ot" cxtcnial aulliority, exce])t in so far as its 
territory was ladd by ^M'ants from tlu' Council for New 
Kni;huul. 

iv.iiti.iii '!'•"' I'olitical forms of Plymouth were sinj^u- 
forui8. larly simple, Kvery settler of good character 
— that is, of the faith of tlie colony, and not an apprentice 
or a .servant — was a freeman, a nicnibci- of the liody l)y 
whicli all atfairs were admini.-tci-cd oi- directed. An as- 
f^embly of a representatix <' (diaracl<'r was not held f<»r 
nearly twenty years, (IG.'VO.) Out of the freemen a 
smaller Ixjdy was taken to exercise the every-day func- 
tions of government. It was composed mendy of the 
governor and liis assistants, or council, of which he was 
simply the presiding olficer with a double vote. The first 
governor was John Carver ; the second was William Brad- 
ford, who retained the post, with a iiw inlerrni)tions, for 
thirty-six years. It marks the simj)licity, not to say the 
distastefulness, of these offic<'s, that there should have 
been a law subjecting a man not having servetl the pre- 
ceding year, and yet refusing to be governor, to a fine 
of twenty pounds, equivalent to a nuudi larger amount 
in our <lay. A military body was headed by Miles Stan- 
di>li, the hero of the settlement. 

lint the sj)irit beneath these forms is of more 
Fpiiit. . ' . 

importance than the forms themstdves. The ear- 
nest fiith of the I'urilans was at once the source from which 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 35 

the colony sprang, and the strength by which it gi'ew. But 
it was also the principle of harsh and arbitrary measures. 
It transformed the exiles into persecutors, many of whose 
companions found themselves again exiles, escaping from 
the mother country only to be thrust out from the sandy 
coasts and chilly hovels of the colony. 

Meantime New Ensrland was portioned out un- 

Grants. , ^ 

Attempt der various names. The secretary of the council, 
erar^ov- ^^^^ Mason, Called liis grant Mariana, stretchmg 
erument. from Salem River to the head of the Mcrrimac, 
(1621.) The lands between the Merrimac and the 
Kennebec were presently combined as Laconia, in a grant 
made to Mason in company with Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 
(1622.) The first settlement, however, in that neighbor- 
hood was made by some fishermen on the shore near 
Monhegan Island, beyond the Kennebec, and therefore 
independently of Mason and Gorges, (1622.) The next 
year the sites of the later Portsmouth and Dover were 
occupied, each under a separate association, to which the 
two proprietors had partially transferred their claims, 
(1623.) Meanwhile the Council for New England had 
been attempting great things, commissioning Captain Fran- 
cis West as " Admiral of New England," Captain Robert 
Gorges as " Governor General," and the Rev. William 
Morrell as " Overseer of Churches." The last named was 
a clergyman of the English church. " He had," says 
Governor Bradford, " I know not what power and author- 
ity of superintendency over other churches granted him, 
and sundiy instructions for that end, but he never showed 
it or made any use of it." " It should seem," says the 
stout Puritan, " he saw it was in vain ; he only spoke of 
it to some here at his going away." The governor general 
and the admiral cut no better figure. The council, as if 
disgusted by the fate of their general officers, surrendered 



36 TAUT 1. 14'J2-1G38. 

tlicir domains to cliaos. New j!;raiits, witliiii as well as 
\vitliout the limits of those already made, were issued by 
the eouneil, or by membrrs of the couneil ; the whoh? 
coast from Plymouth to tlu; Penobscot being cut u]) with 
dividing and intersecting lines. 

Order began to be evolved. The partnership 
iiiimi)- between Mason and Ferdinando Gorges being dis- 
^'"!^'' solved, (1G29,) each obtained a new gi-ant for him- 

aiid New ' V '/ n 

8omcr- self. Masou gave the name of New Hampshire to 
the tract between the Merrimac (aft«-wards be- 
tween the Salem) and the Piscataqua Rivers. The dis- 
trict between the Piscataipia and the Kennebec was called 
JS^ew kSomersetshire by Gorges, who donned the title of 
Governor General of New England. " There was a con- 
sultation liad," writes an Englishman at the time, "to send 
lihn thither with a thousand soldiers." The scheme of a 
general government was not yet abandoned, (1034.) 

A company of Puritans in England had some 
Anu ana time before acquired a fishing station of the Plym- 
outh colony at Cape Ann, (1624.) Thither a few 
settlers were sent ; Roger Conant being soon after invited 
to be the governor, (1625.) He was a man of great 
spirit, who had found it prudent to leave Plymouth in 
consequence of his too liberal Puritanism, and who now 
sustained the puny colony on the cape by his courage and 
his judgment Perceiving a much better position at Nauni- 
keag, he removed thither, (1626,) and there held the 
ground with a few dispirited adherents until, in accord- 
ance with his recommendation, nearly a hundred settleis 
arrived from England under the conduct of John Endicott, 
(1628.) Endicott took the direction of the colony as the 
agent of a new company, l)y which a grant of the tract 
between the Charles and the Merrimac Rivers had been 
procured from the Council for New England. The name 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 37 

of Naumkeag was changed to Salem in the ensuing year, 
(1629.) 

New associates having joined the enterprise, — 
of Ssa- John Winthrop, Isaac Johnson, and others of note 
chugetts fi'om Boston, — a royal charter was procured for 
" The Governor and Company of the Massachu- 
setts Bay in New England." A governor, deputy govern- 
or, and eighteen assistants or councillors, were appointed 
to hold monthly courts and to conduct the aftairs of admin- 
istration. The members at large were to be convened 
from time to time in general courts, by which officers were 
to be chosen and laws enacted, subject only to the condition 
of conforming to the laws of England. No mention of 
religion or of religious liberty was made, it being out of 
the question for the Puritans to obtain the formal recog- 
nition of their own faith. Thus going behind the grant 
of the Council for New England, the Massachusetts associ- 
ation obtained an independent position, in the same char- 
acter that belonged to the council itself, as an English 
corporation. But four months after the date of the char- 
ter, it was decided, on the proj)osal of the governor, 
Matthew Cradock, "to transfer the government of the 
plantation to those that shall inhabit there," (July 28, 
1629.) This at once changed the corporation from an 
Enghsh to a colonial one. 

Reenforcements had been sent out to the colony 

Boston. 

at Salem, (1629.) But the accessions to the list 
were now so great as to suggest the increase of settlements. 
The appointment of John Winthrop as governor, under the 
transfer of the charter to the colony, w^s followed by " the 
great emigration," so called, of about one thousand, who, 
after tarrying at Salem and the neighboring Charlestown, 
voted " that Trimountain shall be called Boston," (Septem- 
ber 7, 1630,) and there took up their position at the centre 
4 



38 I'Aii'i" 1- iii>2-io;i8. 

of Mu.ssachusc Us Day. Tin* lirst General Court was lield 
soon after, (October \[K) and Iroin tliat lime IJosloii took 
tlu! lead of Ma.ssaehust'tts and of New Enj^land. It was 
entitled to do so in Massachusetts l>y the rank, the educa- 
tion, and the dev(»tion of its settlers. It was entitled to do 
so in 2Sew Enj^land as the chief place in Massachusetts, 
then, and for many }'eai*s after, the most im})orlant of all 
the English settlements. 

The new colony crew apace. All around Bos- 

Incroiuse ,/ C7 x 

and inde- toD tlicrc Sprang up towus, some on spots prcvious- 
ijcndonce. j^ occupicd by individuals or by parties, but many 
in districts hitherto unvisited. Each new settlement con- 
tributed to the increase and the independence of the colony. 
So independent in some resi)ects did its position become, 
that the Council for New England, sometimes as a body 
and sometimes through its individual members, began to 
dread and to resist the rising power. There was full 
enough in the attitude of the Massachusetts colonists to 
warrant the suspicion of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, *' that 
they would in short time wholly shake off the ro}'al juris- 
diction of the sovereign magistrate." 

No colony certainly had ever been endowed with 

Charter •' •' 

govtrn- similar powers. Charter government had hitherto 
*""" ■ been confined to conijianies in England. It was 
first in.-i)ired with all its vitality in Massachusetts. As the 
government, not merely of a corporation, but of a state, it 
invested its holders with an authority independent of all 
besides a mere allegiance to the crown and the law of the 
mother land. The officers elsewhere, as in th(^ royal prov- 
ince of Virginia, appointed in England, were here elecli-d 
on the spot, juid by those over whom they were to })reside. 
Governor, council, and assembly, all belonged to and pro- 
ceeded fi-oni the fn;emen. With tlieni resided every form 
of authority, save only the distant and the indelinite shapes 
of royal an«l parliamentary su])remacy. 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 39 

ritan ^^ ^^ "^ means followed that the government 
princi- was a liberal one. Whatever it might appear to 
^*^^' be in the abstract, its operation was rigidly con- 
trolled by Puritan principles. These narrowed its sphere 
and stiffened its action. An early vote declared no one a 
freeman under the charter who was not a church member, 
(1631.) As but a «i^mall proportion of the inhabitants were 
church members, there were less freemen than non-free- 
men. The privileges of the charter being thus restricted 
to the pale of the church, the church and the state became 
virtually one. The elders of the church, clerical and lay, 
were as much magistrates as the magistrates themselves. 
External Such a systcm favored the independence of the 
relations, colony in its relations with the mother country; 
indeed, in all external relations. It made the colony 
strong in itself, relying upon its o\^^l resources, providing 
for its own wants. The villages of Massacliusetts were 
hardly begun, its fields were hardly turned up by the 
plough, when the General Court " agree to give four hun- 
di-ed pounds towards a school or college," (1636.) This 
was subsequently located at Cambridge, and named after 
its first private benefactor, John Harvard, a clergyman of 
Charlestown, (1638.) The same year of the grant from 
the court, when such a sacrifice for the future must have 
strained the entire colony, the offer of certain noblemen to 
join the settlers, on condition of preserving their hereditary 
honors, was rejected, (1636.) All the while the colony 
was contending against the machinations of its adversaries 
in and out of the Council for New England. The charter, 
threatened again and again, was at length demanded back ; 
but the men of Massachusetts stood firm, and it was spared, 
(1634-38.) 

Internal The internal relations of the colonists were by 
relations, ^q means equally secure. The system that cut 



40 PAKT I. l-J()2-ir,38. 

down tlic cliai-lcr it-cil" \\a-> ii.a likely to nv'^poct tlic dcvcl- 
opmriil oi" the iiulividuai. 'l"ii<' \<'i'y iiU'inbers <if" lli<* 
rulln*? class wt-rc imder the ino.>t ri^id restraint, doiui 
Eliot, ariiTwards tlie niissi(tnary to tlio Indians, was (»l)li{jjcU 
to retrai't tin* t-cn-uns whicli he passed upon tin; niaj^is- 
tnites for niakin^ an Indian treaty without consultin;^ the 
freemen, (Ul.'M.) Isra«d Stongliton, a deputy, who ven- 
tured to write ajjrain>t the pretensions of tlie nia;ii.'>trates to 
a ne^iulive upon the General Court, wxs loreed to ask tJiyt 
his n»anu-?cript '* be burned as weak and olfensive," and 
was then excluded ironi olllee for three years, (lO.'J.i.) 
Kop'r Williams, denying the [xnver of the magistrates 
to eonip<d attendance upon their form of service, or to 
bind the conscience by human laws, was driven into exile, 
(lG'')r>.) It marks the spirit of the place, that even Roger 
"Williams, the })rofessed advocate of religious liberty, should 
have transgressed the very principle which he advocated, 
by foi-bidding his wife to pray with him because she would 
not join his scission from the church at Salem. These 
were all individual instances. There pre^ntly arose a 
party in opposition to the dominant system. It wtis led by 
a woman, Anne Hutchinson ; but many of the princi]>al 
men united with her in setting up what they termed a 
"covenant of grace" ag;dnst the ''covenant of works" 
uplicld by tlu! Pui'itan mders. The leaders of the ]»arty 
\vin\' all banished, (IGoH.) One cannot wonder that Wil- 
liam Bhickstone, an early settler, who first invited the 
Massachusetts emigrants to s<'ttle at Boston, should retire 
before them, exclaiming, " I left Enghuid becaus(^ I lik«'d 
not the lord bishops, and now I like not the lord l)rethr(in." 
c<.iiiiec- T''*' Massachusetts jjcople were already emigrat- 
ticut. \j^(r^ ^ Jieighboriiig territory, conveyed by the Coun- 
cil \'nv New England to the I-^arl of Warwick, pa-sed into 
the hands of Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, and others. 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 41 

(1632.) Upon their domain, a party from Plymouth 
established a trading post, (1633,) while another and 
a larger company from Massachusetts founded actual 
settlements at Windsor and Hartford, together called the 
Connecticut colony, (1635.) John Winthrop, son of the 
Massachusetts governor, and afterwards governor of Con- 
necticut, led the first expedition on the part of the proprie- 
tors, and began a settlement at Saybrook, (1635.) A third 
colony was begun, a year or two later, by emigrants from 
England under the lead of John Davenport and Theophilus 
Eaton, who, intending to settle in Massachusetts, were 
driven by the dissensions of that colony to New Haven, 
(1638.) 

Provi- Connecticut was not the only colony to profit by 

dence the Strifes in Massachusetts. Roger Williams, the 
Kiiode exile, began the plantation of Providence, (1636.) 
Island, ^g ^jjg founder of a colony, with the consent of the 
natives, to whom, as well as to his persecuting countrymen, 
he was a faithful friend, Williams deserves a far higher 
fame than he would ever have won as an agitator. He 
was followed by some of the Hutchinson exiles, who began 
a second colony on the northern shore of the island since 
called Rhode Island, (1638.) They, like Williams, ob- 
tained their lands from the natives. 

The Council for New England, with or without 
110110" whose patents so many settlements had been made, 
the coun- ^^g j^Q^y jjo morc. Opposcd by the advocates of a 
free fishery and a free trade, it had lately met with 
fresh assauUs from those who regarded the churches of 
Plymouth and of Massachusetts as the offspring of schism 
and of sin. The council was weary of itself Its efforts 
after a general government of the colonies had miscarried. 
Its grants had ceased to be in demand ; indeed, in an 
honest point of view, there were no more to be made. Its 
4* 



42 PART I. 11'J2-1G38. 

members, however, thoii'jjlit dilfrreiitly, and liavinn; onee 
more jtarccllrd out the territory ot" Nrw Kii^lan<l aiuoiigst 
themselves, they surrendered their patent to the erown, 
(1G35.) 

End of Thus ended the companies created hy the patent 
compa- of Virginia. One, histing but eighteen years, be- 
gan the singk; colony of Virginia. The other, con- 
tiiniing eleven years more, did not found a solitary settle- 
nu'nt. It saw, however, quite a mnuber of settlements 
made hy others under its grants or u])on its lands. The 
only olliee that either company had fulfilled, was to clear 
tlie way lor individual enterprise. This done, both fell, 
and without a i-egret from any side. 

Position ^Vhen the Virginia Company came to an end, its 
of New colony was declared a royal province. No such 
"s"° • change ensued upon the dissolutioji of the Council 
for New England. Massachusetts, the cliief settlement in 
the territory, was already provided with a royal charter. 
The other settlements were too insignificant to attract legis- 
lation, even if they attracted attention from England. Many 
of them, like Plymouth, were able to govern themselves. 
The rest would be ])rovided for in time. 
ThuM.as It ^V'l-^ plain, however, that the New England 
Morton. eQionies; needed some other system than they had 
to establish their relations amongst themselves. An in- 
stance in point occurs in the case of Thomas Morton " of 
Clifford's Inn, gentleman," as he called himself. Taking 
the lead of a few settlers encamped at Mount "Wollaston, 
near Boston, he gave the hill the name of Mare-Mount, 
of which he styled himself " Mine Host," (1626.) The 
use of the chui-ch liturgy and the confidence of the Indians, 
whom he ('mj)loyed as his huntsmen, gave great umbrage 
to the neighboring colonists, the more so that he led a free 
and easy, perhaps a sensual, life upon liis mount, and thus 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 43 

attracted numbers from the surrounding settlements. A 
sort of crusade was started by " the chief of the stragghng 
plantations," as Governor Bradford of Plymouth describes 
them ; Plymouth, at their request, assuming the lead, and 
sending a party under Miles Standish to take Morton 
prisoner. He was sent to England, (1628.) As he had 
the audacity to return, he was apprehended by the authori- 
ties of the infant colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose char- 
ter covered his territory. The court ordered him to " be 
set in the bilboes, and after sent prisoner to England," his 
goods being seized and his house burned for wrongs, it was 
alleged, that had been done to the Indians, (1630.) After 
appealing to the privy council by petition, and to the Eng- 
lish nation in a work called " New English Canaan," Mor- 
ton returned again to encounter fine and imprisonment, 
(1643,) and to die in poverty, (1646.) Whatever were 
his fiiults, whether " the lord of misrule," as his adversaries 
represented him, or not, Thomas Morton was certainly 
handled by his fellow-colonists in a way the most opposed 
to justice and to peace. 

Section III. — Projyrietors. 1630 to 1638. 

G ant of ^ ^^^^ form of grant appears. Hitherto, the 
Mary- indi\ddual obtaining possession of territory pro- 
cured it, like Mason or like Gorges, from a com- 
pany to whose authority the acquisition was subject. It 
was by a patent from the crown that Sir George Calvert, 
Lord Baltimore, was made " lord and proprietor " of a 
tract between the Potomac River and the latitude of Phila- 
delphia, (1632.) To this he gave the name of Maryland, 
and thither, to a settlement named St. Mary's, his son, after 
the father's death, led a band of two hundred, (1634.) 
Thus was constituted a proprietary government. The 



44 PART I. 1102-1G38. 

A propri- P^'opi^f'tor liold .111 authority that was supreme, save 
etaot'ov-in its subortliiiatioii to the sovereimi from whom it 
emanated. He directed the administration and the 
legislation of the colony, appointing the ex<*cutive officers, 
the governor, especially, as his rei)resentative, and control- 
ling the proceedings of the colonists in their assemblies. 
To him likewise belonged the quitrents, or taxes upon 
occupied lands, in addition to the general taxes for the 
support of the government. The colonists, on their })art, 
— that is, " the freemen of the province," — were to have 
their assembly, in which their " advice, consent, and appro- 
bation " might be given or withheld in relation to the 
course of the proprietor. 

Heiigious As with other settlements, so with Maryland, 
'"'^''•'y- there are exaggerations in some of the histories. 
A vast deal of fine writing has been devoted to the magna- 
nimity with which the Maryland charter provided ibr 
religious liberty. The instrument makes no mention of 
the subject, or of the establishment of rehgion, except to 
leave the matter to the proprietor, subject on this point, as 
on others, to the laws of England. The Calvert family, 
being Roman Catholic, could not make their own ftiith 
paramount, nor would they, perhaps, have done so, even if 
they could. Tliey wanted settlers of all creeds, whose 
numbers and whose energies alone could give real value 
to their domains. It was simply a matter of policy, there- 
fore, with the proprietary family, to let the question of 
religion rest exactly where it was left by the charter. We 
may hope that they were not merely politic enough, but 
generous enough, even in an age which knew little of 
generosity, to throw open their province to Cliristians, with- 
out any limitation in favor of one branch or of another. 
Trou- The colony, young as it was, fell into troubhis. 

Its assembly began to make laws without waiting 



ENGLISH SETTLEMENTS. 45 

for the proprietor's legal initiative. At the same time, 
both proprietor and assembly were involved in disturbances 
excited by a member of the Virginia council, William 
Clayborne. Virginia herself took it ill that her territory 
should be invaded even by royal grants. Clayborne con- 
ceived his rights to be assailed, inasmuch as he, individual- 
ly, had established trading posts within the Maryland limits. 
Taking up arms against the colony, he was overpowered, 
and sent back to Virginia, (1635.) 

other Other proprietors, besides those of Maryland, 

pioprie- were in the field. Sir Robert Heath, attorney 
general to Charles I., obtained the patent of a 
vast region on the south of Virginia, and as far as the Gulf 
of Mexico. This he called Carolana, (1630.) Another 
tract, called New Albion, and including the present New 
Jersey, was conveyed in an irregular instrument from the 
viceroy of Ireland to Sir Edward Plowden, as an earl 
palatine, (1636.) These were but grants, not settlements, 
yet significant of the growing pretensions of England to 
the soil of America. 



No other nation of Europe, it need hardly be 

Conclu- 11-,-, 

sion. suggested, had made any settlements, individual, 
En-iish associated, or national, at all comparable to those, 
of the English. Nor had there been any such 
definite purposes of settlement, separate from mere adven- 
ture, on the part of any other race. The English settler 
was emphatically a settler, rather than a treasure seeker or 
a conqueror, a missionary or a trader. Not that he shrank 
from other enterprises, but that his main motive was to 
gain a home, and an abiding one, in the western world. 
Acting in harmony with this were the desire to escape from 
oppression or from want, the yearning after a new faith or 
a new life, the various impulses that have appeared, it is 



motive 



46 PART I. M02-1G38. 

hopod, in tho preceding pao;e.>. That tliere wore ha.^er 
instinct."^ tending to the same end has also appeared. 
TiiHtitu- T''<' institutions of the P^nglish were favorable to 
tions. their i)urposes as settlei-s. The subjects of a limit- 
ed monarchy, they brought with them the habits and the 
laws of com})arative freemen. That they might have been 
freer in thrir political j)rincij)l('s, needs not to be suggested 
anew. But in their varying charters, in their varying 
magistrates and tribunals, even in the least liberal, the 
English colonists possessed privileges to which neither the 
Frenchman nor the Spaniard in their neigliborhood had 
ever actually aspired. 

Circum- Of an equally encouraging description were the 
8tancofl. circumstances of tho English. The seaboard was 
theirs, all at least that they could immediately occupy. 
The portion which they possessed was partly in the north 
and partly in the south, provided, therefore, with the re- 
sources of both regions, at the same time that it was not 
exposed either to the indulgence of the extreme south or 
to the privation of the extreme north. Within opened an 
interior region rich in its streams, its fields, its forests, its 
mountains ; without lay the broad sea, accessible at a hun- 
dred harbors. "VMiatever mere position could effect was 
promised to the English settlers. 

English As yct they had but begun the work before 
uames. them. Their humble towns on the coast, their 
humbler villages and hamlets in the country, gave small 
token of their destinies. But the names of their territories 
were full of strength and of grandeur. There was New 
Albion on the Pacific, New Albion on the Atlantic. There 
w^as the land of Queen Elizabeth — Virginia ; there was 
the land of the nation — New England. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Dutch Settlements. 

Group of A LATER group of settlers comes forward. It is 

traders. coHiposed not SO much of settlers, however, as of 

traders, who, to carry out their commercial operations, lay 

the foundations of a state, and give it the name of their 

nation. 

Spirit in The spirit of the preceding half century in Hol- 

Hoiinnd. i^j^Q i^^Q l^ggj^ ^1^^^ ^f ^ people rcscuing themselves 

from a foreign dominion and building up a power of their 
own. Europe has nothing so brilliant upon its records at 
the time as the war of independence which the Nether- 
lands waged, and waged successfully, against Spain. It 
might have been argued that such a nation would have 
surpassed all others in America. 
^ . „ , But it was not so. The Dutch came late upon 

Dwindled ^ ^ 

in Anieri- the sccnc. They came, moreover, not with the 
spirit or the law of their nation so much as with 
those of the commercial companies by which they Avere 
sent out or controlled. The story of their settlements is 
therefore an anomaly in the history of American coloni- 
zation. The fire of the mother-land languishes in the 
colony. It is because the colony is not a national, but a 
corporate settlement, from its beginning to its end. 
Hudson's "^^^^ ^^^y y^^^' ^" which Holland became inde- 
voyage. pendent, (1609,) Henry Hudson, an Englishman 
in Dutch employ, sailed in search of a northern passage to 

(47) 



48 TAKT 1. ll'Jii-lOaS. 

the Pacific. Shut out hy the ice from his projected course, 
he steered westward, and rcacliinj; the cotust of Maine, 
cruised southward as far as Virixinia, ^xivinj; to Cape Cod, 
on the way, the name of N(!W IIolhuuL As lie returned 
towards the north, he di«^eovered Dchnvarc r)ay,and entered 
the River of the Mountains, as he called the stream since 
known by his own name. These waters, first visited, per- 
haps, hy Cahot in llie lMiij;li>h, (ll'.)S,) then hy Verrazzani 
in the French, (ir;24,) and tiien by Gomez in the Sj)anish 
(l;i2')) service, were now more thorou;j:hly explored by 
Hudson. As their discoverer, he returned to Holland, and 
as their possessors, the Dutch sent out various vessels to 
trade with the natives and to claim the shores, (1010-13.) 

The earliest of the Dutch posts was on the Island 
of New of Manhattan, (1G13.) There the first craft of Eu- 
land. "^ ropean construction was built and launched by 
Adrian Block, whose ship had been destroyed by 
tire. In his Manhattan vessel, appropriately called the Rest- 
less, Block went through Long Island Sound as far as Cape 
Cod, then, leaving his name for Block Island, he returned 
home, (1614.) The prospects of the nevr country looking 
well, the association of Amsterdam and Ilooi'n merchants, 
by whom Block and other ex})lorers had been employed, 
gave it the name of New Netherland, and ai)i)lied to the 
States General for protection in their enterprise. This 
was obtained, in the shape of an exclusive right for three 
years " to visit and })enetrate the said lands lying in Ameri- 
ca between New France and Virginia, whereof the coasts 
extend from the fortieth to the forty-fifth degrees of lati- 
tude;" that is, from Delaware to Passamaquoddy Bay. 
The association, taking the name of the United New Neth- 
erland Com]iany, set themselves to work, (1614.) A fort 
was built at Manhattjin ; a fortified trading post was estab- 
lished up the river, near the present Albany, (1615.) 



DUTCH SETTLEMENTS. 49 

Meanwhile the little Restless, commanded by Cornelius 
Hendricksen, was exploring the coast to the southward, 
and ascending the Delaware, then called the South River, 
to distinguish it from the North, or Prince Maurice's River, 
as the Pludson was variously styled. 

The monopoly of the New Netherland Com- 

Proposals 

of the p^ny expiring without their being able to ob- 
piymouth ^^^^ j^g renewal, other parties entered mto the 

Puritans. ' ^ 

trading operations of which the colony was the 
centre. But the old company, or rather a portion of its 
members, retained a sort of vantage ground. To them, ac- 
cordingly, the Puritan exiles in Holland — the same who 
settled Plymouth — addressed their proposals of emigrating 
to New Netherland. The party to whom the application 
was made petitioned the States General that the Puritans 
might be taken under the national protection, in which 
case the petition asserts " upwards of four hundred families " 
" from this country and from England " would settle in the 
Dutch colony, (February, 1620.) The prayer of the pe- 
titioners was refused. 

West In- ^^^^ New Netherland Company had ceased to 
diaCom- be a body in which the nation confided. An old 
P^iiy- project of a West India Company was revived, and 
a corporation of that name established, with power, not 
only over New Netherland, but the entire American coast, 
(1621.) It was some time before the company began its 
operations ; but when it did begin, it was evidently in 
earnest, (1623.) 

Walloon Ten years had elapsed since the trading post on 
colony. Manhattan had been occupied, and there were still 
none but trading posts in all New Netherland. Not a 
colony worthy of the name as yet existed. The only plan 
that had ever been formed of establishing one came from 
the Plymouth Puritans. It is a singular coincidence that 



50 I'AKT 1. M',>2-i(i:;s. 

the first colony to Ix' actiKilly cstjilili-hcil was ono of rof- 
ii^cps, like tin' Puritans, from persecution. Tlic.-f uric a 
l>aii(l of l*rott>taiit Walloons, from the Spanish Nether- 
lands, who, after applyin;^ unsueeessfully to the London 
('oinj)any of Enjjland, enlisted as colonists undtM* the West 
India ('omj)any of Holland. Sent out in the first expe- 
dition of the company, they settled at Waal-hojjt, or AVal- 
loons' Hay, on the western shore of Long Island, (ir»23— 
21.) Their settlement stands out amidst the snrroundinir 
tradluL'" posts as the one spot of home hfe in New Nether- 
huid. Ihit it was a feehh; settlement, and feeble it con- 
tinued, aUhouirh recruited by fresh fu^j^itives from beyond 
the sea. 

Nfw Am- Th(! company was by no means absorl)ed in its 
steraam. ^y.^Hoons. On the contrary, it was erectinor forts, 
one on the North River, another on the South, and jjres- 
ently, the chief of all on Maidiattan Island, (1G2G.) l*ur- 
chasing the entire island from the natives for no less than 
twenty-four of our dollars, Peter Minuit, the company's 
director, commenced the erection of a fort, with some sur- 
rounding dwellings, to which the name of New Amster- 
dam was subsequently ai)})lied. This settlement was to 
New Netherland the same principal place that it has since 
become as New York to the United States. Other Ibrts 
were gradually raised ; that of Good Hope upon the Con- 
necticut, and that of Beversrede upon the Schuylkill, 
(1G33.) The dominion of the com]>any was in force upon 
the soil not only of New York, but of Connecticut, New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, and all within ten 
years of its first operations. 

Lut ui)on tliis vast surface the eoiniiany's settle- 

ments w<'r(^ as dots. Sevei'al oi them, mdeed, liad 

l)een obliterated, and of those that remained, hardly one 

besides New Ani.-terdaiu was any tliinii; more than a sta- 



DUTCH SETTLEMENTS. 51 

tion for trade. New Amsterdam itself was only a com- 
mercial settlement. Other posts of the same character had 
been begun, but the colony, as a whole, was in a languish- 
ing condition ; the company, of course, being disappointed 
in their expectations of rich returns. To advance their 
interests, they offered a slice of territory and the title of 
patroon to any one who, within a given period, would 
settle a given number of colonists upon lands bought of the 
natives, (1629.) This regard for the Indians was not the 
only proof of liberality in the patroon system, as it may be 
styled. The support of a clergyman and a schoolmaster, 
with that of a " comforter for the sick," was especially en- 
joined as one of the conditions to be fulfilled by the pa- 
troons. But mixed up with the more generous provisions 
were others of a very opposite nature. The fur trade, 
the great attraction of New Netherland, was reserved ex- 
clusively to the company. Pain of banishment was to de- 
ter the colonists from "making woollen, linen, or cotton 
cloths." " As many negroes as can be conveniently pro- 
vided " M^ere promised to the Dutch settlers. All^he while, 
the patroons were constituted a class of feudal lords, as 
threatening to their superiors in the company as to their 
inferiors in the colony. Large purchases were made by 
individuals, (1629-31.) and some settlements were attempt- 
ed, the chief being those of Rensselaerswyck, near Albany, 
Pavonia, opposite Manhattan Island, and Swaanendael, on 
the Delaware. Some of these reverted to the company ; 
some disappeared. 

English Spain and France, as we have read, had their 
claims, pretensions to the soil of New Netherland. But 
the only power to dispute the Dutch possession was Eng- 
land. Tradition asserts that the same Captain Argal who 
destroyed the French settlement in Maine visited the huts 
on Manhattan Island, as he was returning to Virginia, and 



r)'2 TAUT I. U02-1638. 

compoll«Hl tlio f«nv Dutchmon whom lie found thore to ac- 
knowlrdi:*^ the KiiLilish suprcinacy, (U)l.'}.) Tliis is un- 
(MTtaiii ; but it is c(M*tain that w lirii tlie Now Nethorlaml 
Company apprahMl to thr Slatos (icnoral in bclKilf of 
the IMymontli Puritans, they represented the danu^er of 
the colony's beinj:: sur|)rised by an oxjjedition sent to sup- 
port the ehiims of Enj^hind, ( 10:^:0.) The Couneil for New 
Enjxhmd wjvs soon en!za«red in appealing to the Privy 
Couneil jiixainst what they deemed to be an in^a^it)n of 
their territory. The appeal w;u? received, and an order 
of inipiiry hito tiie eireumstanees went to the British 
ambassador in Holland. lie replied that there was as yet 
no Dutch colony upon the soil, (U»'21.) But as time 
passed, and colonies were founded, the suspicions of the 
English, both in England and in America, were revived. 
A corresjxHulcnce, opened by Peter JMinuit, director of 
New Am-tenlain, with William Bradford, governor of New 
Plymouth, stirred the Englishman to ask that the J^utch 
should trade no more in his neighborhood; and further, 
that tliey«hould clear their title to trade or to settle in any 
part of the country at all. No wonder that Miimit applii'«l 
to the com])any in Holland for forty soldiers, (1027.) On 
his voyage home, a few years later, Minuit and hfs ship 
were detained on touching at Plymouth in England, and 
to the remonstrance of the Dutch embassy, the British 
ministry formally opposed the title of Great Britain to 
New Netherland, (l()o2.) It was soon after that the 
English settlements in Coimecticut began to crowd upon 
the fort of the Dutch, (1033-38,) while a direct invasion 
of Delaware was made from Virginia, (1635.) This was 
repelled : but the soil of Connecticut could not be retained. 
Tradi of 'r^^^' colony was still a colony of traders. No 
the cc>io- gencHMis views, no manly energies, were as yet 
°*" excited amongst its inhabitants or its rulers. From 



DUTCH SETTLEMENTS. 53 

the slave to the colonist, from the colonist to the patroon, 
from the patroon to the director, and even from the direct- 
or to the company, there was little besides struggling for 
j)ecuniary advantages. It was esteemed a great era in the 
colony when, after various dissensions, its trade was nomi- 
nally thrown open. But the percentages to the company 
were such as to prevent any really free trade, (1638.) 
5* 



CHAPTER VII. 

Swedish Settlements. 
Last of all to claim a share as a nation in our 

Idea of 

Ousta- territory were tli(3 Swedes. Their far-si;^hted and 
vusAdt.i- iiii.g,..ii,..y.t,.(i kinp:, Gustavus Ad(jlphus, the champi- 
on of the Protestant cause in Europe, caught up the 
idea of supporting the same cause in America. " It is 
the jewel of my kingdom," he wrote just before he died, 
concerning the settlement that was yet to be, (1632.) 

The jewel of Gustavus received its setting from 
eUeni *'^^ regent of his infant daughter Christina, the 
calls in Chancellor Oxenstiem. With the same loftiness of 

Germany. . . -, n -, „ 

View, — prei)aring a state that was to be oi beneht to 
" all Christendom," — Oxenstiem invited and obtained the 
cooperation of Protestant Germany, (1G31.) The Swedish 
"West Lidia Com[)any was to be the instrument by which 
the north of Europe, as well as Sweden, was to be linked 
to America. It was a design of greater ends and of broad- 
er motives than had as yet been formed for the new 
world. 
Results ^"^ ^^^^ results bore no proportion to the plans. 

It was not to be expected that such colonists as 
could be found in SwedcMi would embrace the same wide 
objects as their regent or their king. They would enlist 
only in an enter})rise that promised personal as well as 
national returns. Some years passed before any settlement 
wi\s attempted, and then a colony of only twenty-four, and 

(54) 



S^VEDISH SETTLEMENTS. 55 

these chiefly transported convicts, was established at Fort 
Christina, near the present Wihnington in Delaware, 
(1638.) The territory, which was purchased of the In- 
dians, extended on either side of the fort, along the western 
shore of Delaware Bay, and up the Delaware River as far 
as Trenton, under the name of New Sweden. 
Opposing To this the Swedes had been guided by Peter 
claims. Minuit, lately of New Netherland. His recom- 
mendation of lands previously purchased and occupied, 
though just at this time unoccupied, by his countrymen, 
involved the Swedish colony in immediate difficulties. A 
remonstrance from the governor of New Netherland against 
the invasion of his province was supported in Holland by 
the seizure of a Swedish vessel touching at a Dutch port 
on its way home. The EngKsh had their pretensions like- 
wise to the lands appropriated by the new colony. On 
each side were conflicting claims. With feeble numbers 
and with scanty supplies, the Swedes would find it difficult 
to keep their New Sweden. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Indian Races. 

Europoan TiiE roll of European races establishing them- 
racos. selves independently uj)on our soil was filled up 
by Si)ain, France, Enf^land, Holland, Sweden, and, with 
Sweden, Germany. Atler the Swedish colony of 1638, 
no national settlement was made by any nation not already 
upon the scene. 

Indian It is time, therefore, to take an account of the 

raced. raccs that occupied the country before any of those 
from Europe entered upon their possessions. The share 
of the Indians in our history endures, though their share 
in our territory wastes away. 

The idea of Columbus that he had merely redis- 

Nanies _ •' 

and num- covcrcd India gave the name of Indians to the 
^^' existing inhabitants of the continent. Within the 
limits of our country they were divided into four grand 
divisions, as the Algonquins, the Iroquois, the Mobilians, 
mid the Dahcotas. The last name includes the tribes 
west of the Mississippi, of which, in the early period, the 
number could not have been at all considerable. Neither 
were the three divisions lying east of the Mississippi by 
any means numerous. The entire number is estimated to 
have been under three hundred thousand, and perhaps not 
above two hundred thousand, at the time of the first Eu- 
ropean settlements. Take from the whole the large })art 
which had little or no connection with any of the Euro])ean 



INDIAN RACES. 57 

races, and the Indian population dwindles to small propor- 
tions. It seems strange that so few, and these few savages, 
should have exercised so great an influence upon so many, 
and these many civilized. But it will be accounted for 
by a rapid survey of the Indian divisions and the Indian 
resources. 

Aigon- First of the Algonquins. The central tribe of 

quins. ^j^-g y^^^ Y^QQ ^r^^ j-|-^q Lcnni-Lenapc, which, occu- 
pying the shores of the Delaware, went by the name of 
Delawares amongst the English. The name of Lenni- 
Lenape, meaning Aborigines, is supposed to mark them as 
the parent stock of the Algonquins. The shoots of the 
race were enormously spread. Starting far up in the north, 
they stretch through New England, as the Abenakis, "the 
Pawtuckets, the Massachusetts, the Pokanokets, the Narra- 
gansets, the Pequots, and the Mohegans. Thence they 
may be traced as the Manhattans of New York, the Sus- 
quehannas and the Nanticokes of Pennsylvania and IMary- 
land, the Powhatans of Virginia, and the Pamlicos of South 
Carohna. Towards the west they appear as the Ottawas 
of Michigan, the Miamis of Ohio and Indiana, the Illinois 
of Illinois, and the Shawanoes of Kentucky. Long as this 
list is, it embraces but a portion of the names to be found 
in any full record of the Algonquins. 

Next of the Iroquois. The centre of this divis- 
ion was among the lakes of Western New York, 
where the Five Nations of the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the 
Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas established their 
confederacy. To the west and north-west of the Five Na- 
tions lay their conquests of after years, the lands of the 
Eries, of the Hurons, and of other tribes. The prowess 
or the intrigue of the Iroquois had already subdued the 
great tribe of the Algonquins, the Lenni-Lenape. Far to 
the south, partly in Virginia and partly m Carolina, were 



58 V\nV 1. 1402-1038. 

tlic Tii>;caix)ras, who, at a latci- jx riod, migrated to unite 
willi tlicir bivtliR'ii in tlic north, making six nations of 
the live. 

Lastly, of the iMobilian division. It was l)rok<'n 
up amongst the i amassees ot (jreorgia ; the JNlusk- 
hogees or Cix'eks of Georgia, Ala])ama, and Florida ; the 
Semmoles of Florida, with the inland trihes ol' Catawbas 
in South Carolina, Cherokees in Georgia and Alabama, 
Choetaws, Natchez, and Chiekasaw^s in Alabama and i\lis- 
sissippi. 
_ , There was but one line of wide distinction 

Customs 

and insti- amongst these various tribes. It separated those 
u ions. ^^,j^^ lived by the chase alone from those who lived 
not only by the chase, but by agriculture. The former 
class, of course, was the ruder of tlu; two ; yet the customs 
and the institutions of Ijolh were much the same. The 
Indian was every where a hunter, every where a warrior. 
If he was any thing else, if he attempted agriculture or 
trade, he seemed to be out of his element. The habits of 
civilized life were a burden, sometimes a destruction to him. 
This is true of all the tribes upon our soil ; the only cus- 
toms to which they took, and by which they held, were 
those of the wilderness, or, at the best, of the field. Their 
institutions were comparatively advanced. Gathered with 
liis kinsmen in a totem or clan, then with other clans in a 
tribe, then perhaps with other tribes in a confedei'acy, the 
Indian was as much a member of a nation as the European. 
Above him were his chiefs, the hereditary sachems of peace, 
and the chosen leaders of war. Their sway and his rights 
rested together on laws, unwritten, but not undetermined. 
The devotion shown to these relations and to these institu- 
tions was that of true patriots, as well as true savages. It 
sustained the Indians through trials under which more 
civihzed nations have much sooner succumbed. Had it 



INDIAN RACES. 59 

been united with a civilization, or rather a religion, by 
which the different tribes could have been blended in one, 
beneath better statutes and holier influences, the Indian 
race would have left no space for the European. 

We can now appreciate the influence of the In- 
upon^he ^^^^ upon the European. Though far from being 
^"™- disciplined, though still farther from being concen- 
trated, the natives of our soil would not encounter 
an invader without leaving an abiding mark upon him and 
upon his destiny. If not numerous in proportion to the 
vast regions over which they were spread, they were mul- 
titudinous in proportion to the scanty settlements of the 
stranger. He, moreover, was in an untried land, they in 
one which they had occupied from infancy. 

Had there been nothing else to make the Indians 
influence formidable, the treatment which they received would 
upon the have been suflicient. The white men came, if not 

Indian. t i -, • . • ' ■, 

to drag the red man mto captivity, or to ransack 
his stores, at any rate to occupy his lands. This was done, 
sometimes with and sometimes without the show of justice. 
If any nation deserves credit above another, it is not the 
English, not their Puritan or their Quaker branches, as 
frequently boasted, but the Dutch of New Netherland. 
Nowhere, however, do we find more than the pretence of 
even dealing with the natives. The intercourse thus opened 
was continued in much the same fashion. The Spaniards 
and the French had greater numbers, proportionally, of 
missionaries amongst the Indians ; the French, whether 
missionaries or not, were on comparatively good terms with 
many of the tribes about them. But there are no excep- 
tions to the general course of the Indian from the time that 
he encountered the European. Scorn, treachery, degrada- 
tion, were his portion ; fury and savage warfare were his 
revenge. Of the Indian wars we shall take notice here- 
after. 



ill) PAlfl' I. H'Jli luiiS. 

Aivinm -^"^ ^^^^' Indian drooiM'd beneath tlie Idi^dit of lliii 

"■''■■• Stranger, and beoaine a di'pendant where hi> lathers 
had hvL'U tree ami j)Owei't"uf, he eainc in eontaet with anoth- 
er race also in depi-ndenee njjon the Knropean. This was 
the AlHcan race, introdneed into N'irginia the same year 
that the Puritans eanie to Plymouth, bondmen from the 
bejj^inniniz: and until now. 

Thocoun- -'^'"^1 here, as We have completed the enumeration 
^'■^- of the races in the country, it behoves us to give a 

glance at the country itself, varied and wide enough, as it 
must have seemed, lor many colonies, or many nations. 
Although as yet the seaboard alone was occupied, tin; vast 
reaches of the interior, the stretching plains, the j)enelrat- 
ing rivers, were descried. DiH'erent prospects, different 
attractions, different inHuences, opened in all directions, 
betokening that the various races here thrown together 
would have no want of development amongst themselves — 
no want, it must be added, of strife with one another. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Europe from 1492 to 1638. 

The great -^T the discoveiy of America, there was but one 
change, church amongst the Christians of Europe. There 
were several churches amongst them when America was 
settled. It was the great change of the century and a half 
that had passed away. 

The reformation of the Catholic church, while 

Its cause 

and char- uudcr the Supremacy of Rome, had been the prayer 
^'^^^^'' of many a devout heart. The more faithful the 
churchman, the more sensitive he was to the corruption 
and to the oppression existing in a body of which the liber- 
ty and the purity were alike sacred in his eyes. But he 
had nowhere conceived it necessary to break the church 
asunder in order to reform it ; he was rather the champion 
of a closer union than existed amongst Christians. The 
rupture of the church was brought about, not by the re- 
former, but by the anti-reformer. Every where opposed, 
if not crushed, the reformers of successive periods met with 
a fate that did but increase the tendency which it was in- 
tended to arrest. The demand for reform became more 
and more earnest, more and more imperative. Still refused, 
still met by persecution, it was supported by sterner spirits 
and by more violent deeds, until the crisis came, bringing 
not only reformation, but division. 

Luther's The coursc of things in general appears in the 
course, experience of the individual who led the outbreak 
6 (61) 



62 PART I. 1102-1638. 

of tlic rcfoniKitiDii, c>i>('cially so calln], Wlicii I^Iarlin 
Luther, an Augustine inoiik of Wittciibcr;:, in Saxony, 
liung up on the chuirh door a paper of nincty-livo tliescs, or 
propositions, airainst tlic dot-trine of indulgence, that is, of 
ahsohition witlioiit re|)entan('«', he was " a jjupist," as he liini- 
self said, "of the deepest dye," witii no oth(.'r olijeet than 
that of saving tlie ehureh as it was, (l')17.) lint rejected, 
])utreted, assailed in lii> purposes of refoi-ni, he threw otf 
the Joke of Ivonie in thn-e years' time, hurniiig the papal 
hull of exeonnnunication, and dividing the Christian church 
for ages, if not forever, (1520.) It was hut a (piarler of 
a century from the discovery -of America. 

Once that the church was rent, divi>ions yawned 

Divisions. _ _ '' 

wide on all sides. The point on wliicli the refor- 
mation concentrated itself was resistance to the Roman 
sway, which was accordingly thrown off by one state after 
another. Some of the seceders in Germany, resisting the 
measures of repression with which they were threatened, 
made the protest from which came the name of Protestant, 
(ir)29.) Then Protestants against Protestants appeared. 
The doctrines put forth by one [uirty did not fay in with 
those of another party in tlie same nation ; and as diilerent 
nations entered the arena, dilferent lines of se[)aration 
arose between creed and creed, between form and form. 
It was the reaction against ages of ballled desire and .-tilled 
conscience. 

^ ^^jgjg In presence of such dissensions amongst tlie be- 
of Kood lievers in one Lord and one faith, there is surely no 

room for exultation. To regard the reformation 
mendy as a triumjdi, without recognizing it as a trial of hu- 
manity, is to shut one's eyes against some of the darkest pas- 
sages in human history. That it was a crisis alike of good 
and of evil, appears in its consequences, with which alone 
wc are here concerned. 



EUROPE FROM 1492 TO 1638. 63 

Reii<^ious Take them, first, in a religious point of view. 
conse- To tliosc wlio altogether refused to enter into the 
quences. j,gfQj.j^jj^^JQj^ [^ brought a deeper subjection to exist- 
ing wrongs. To those who wholly entered into it, on the 
other hand, who shrank from none of its extremes, it 
brought the oppression of new errors, wilder at least, if not 
more fatal, than any of the old. It was only on the middle 
ground, between the reckless adherent and the dogged op- 
ponent of the reformation, that they are to be found who 
profited by it, who returned to the truth in its moderation 
and its simplicity. Amongst these there was a reforma- 
tion ; amongst the others — those of the extremes on either 
side — there was rather a revolution, a convulsion. 
Political ^^ ^'^^^ ^^^® consequences in a political point of 
conse- view. The ruling principle of European govern- 
qiieuces. j^^^j^^g^ ^et it be remembered, was monarchy. It 
had raised itself to its position, let it also be remembered, 
by its successful strife with the papacy of Rome, of which, 
however, it was no more the sovereign than it was the sub- 
ject. It had simply gained the ground on which, consciously 
or unconsciously, it miglit do its work of bringing forward, 
or of suffering to be brought forward, the social and the 
individual interests of the people. To maintain this place, 
a temperate course amid the agitations of the times was 
necessary. Where men rushed madly into every new 
scheme of government, there anarchy took the place of 
monarchy. It was displaced by despotism at the other ex- 
treme, where the subordination to the Roman see was un- 
shaken. Why the state should be thus affected by move- 
ments begun in the church, will not appear singular if we 
reflect how similar was the necessity, how similar the 
desire, for reform in both. 

But to leave these general observations for the 

Spain. 

examples of them to be found amongst the states of 



64 PART T. 1402-1638. 

Kiirojx', li't us Ix'^in with tln' uiu'hanp^ing Spain, iinclian- 
«^in;r, tliouirh not without h«r Protestixnts. Yet there waa 
no strujijxle between one cause and the other; th«' decision 
was sharp and resolute to tlie elK'ct that the church should 
undergo no alteration. Naturally, th('reil)r(', the monarchy 
of Spain fell into a sort of dependence u])on the central 
power of the church to which it was thus devoted. The 
monarch was the absolute sovereign, ruling for the priest- 
liood, for the nobility, for himself of course, but not for his 
jieople. Beneath such a king as Philip II., (looG-OH,) in 
whom the Spanish system, both in church and in state, 
found its impersonation, the energies of the nation received 
a blight from which they have never recovered. 

The course of France, alike on some points, was 

Fraucc. ' ^ ' 

very different as a whole. She had her massacre 
of St. Bartholomew, the bloodiest blow yet struck against the 
reformers, (lo72,) before the edict of Nantes gave liberty 
of faith to her Protestants, the Huguenots, (1598.) But 
from the latter date, at all events, the position of France 
was that of a nation adhering to the Roman church, yet as 
its ally, not its subject. It was the tem})erate state upon 
the Roman side. Nowhere else did tlie church of Rome 
apjx'ar to so great advantage as where it was thus estab- 
lished in forbearance. Nowhere else was the state more 
successfully administered than where it was thus conducted 
in liberality. Europe saw no truer monarch during the 
period than Henry IV. of France, ( 1 580-1 G 10.) 

Far on in the Protestant van wa$ Holland. She 

UuUaua. 

flung herself into the refonnation with a frenzy no 
doubt aggravated by her hatred for her mistress in Spain. 
The results were soon visible in scenes of pillage and blood. 
The Roman churches were violated; then the Protestant 
churches were rent asunder. In the state there were better 
signs. The heroic war of independen(;e threw off the Span- 



EUROPE FROM 1492 TO 1638. 05 

ish dominion, (1566-1609.) But to the hopes thus inspired 
there came a rapid reverse, with the rise of Maurice of 
Orange, to whom the best patriot of Holland, John Van 
Olden Barneveldt, fell a victim, (1619.) The Protestant 
extreme was quite as fatal as the Roman. 
Sweden Sweden and Protestant Germany were calmer 
and Ger- and happier. But the latter country was too much 
T^^^^y- broken up, while the former was too much confined, 
to take any position of enduring influence. It is the less to 
our purpose to dwell upon their fortunes, inasmuch as they 
had but little pai't in the fortunes of our own country. 

Let us pass, therefore, to England, great in the 

England. _, . . , -, . 

Protestant cause, because great m the moderation 
by which the cause was sustained. The entrance of the 
nation into the lists was discreditable enough, so far as it 
was made at the dictates of Henry VIII., no earnest re- 
former, but a swollen despot. Once entered in, however, 
the heart of the nation beat nobly and enduringly. It went 
through few excesses. The passions of the early reform- 
ers were those of mdividuals ; the austerities of the later 
reformers were those of a few, compared with the many who 
remained steadfast. The church of the reformation assumed 
its gentler aspect in the church of England — the mean 
between the extremes, aUke of Protestantism and Roman- 
ism. Nor did the state altogether fail to harmonize with 
the church. The reign of Mary was an interruption ; but 
that of her sister EHzabeth was more than a compensation, 
(1558-1603.) England was stirred to new life. Physical- 
ly and intellectually, as well as morally, the nation received 
the impulse of the age, and bounded forward. Yet there 
were serious trials to come ; the development that had been 
begun could not go on uninterrupted, its very activity occa- 
sioning retrocession at times, as well as advance. 

All Europe was growing in one direction. No country 
6* 



66 PART I. 1192-10.38. 

, , „ ^ but was touched hy an intrllcctual flame. Itiilv, far 

Intellect- ■^ ■^ ' 

uaiex- as she was from tlie sea that led to the new world, 
pans on. ^^, fi-om the agitation that led to the new life in 
the old world, — even she was radiant with science, with 
poesy, and with art. Galileo utt(.'red his wondrous revela- 
tions ; Ariosto and Tasso comi)Osed their glowing poems ; 
Palestrina breathed forth his solemn strains; Michael An- 
gelo and Rai>hael created their immortal forms. Spain, too, 
otlierwise so mute or so re])ulsive, rang out responsive with 
her versatile Cervantes and li(?r inexhaustible Lope de 
Vega. England, in her ax-tivity, answered with the one 
universal voice of »Sliakspeare. Bacon was the English, 
Descartes the French philosopher, both, but especially the 
latter, being at once deliverers and lawgivers to the human 
intellect. It was for America as well as for Kuiope that 
these marvellous works were wrought. 



PART II 



THE ENGLISH DOMINION. 



1638-1763. 



(67) 



CHAPTER I. 

England and France from 1638 to 1763. 

Question '^^^ ^^^^ nations that were in the van of Europe 
ofprece- woiild inevitably lead the van in America. The 

question of precedence between them was decided, 
as that of their common precedence had been, in Europe. 
Let us look thither in search of the controlling causes. 
Rei^n of ^^ shall sce France submitting to the sceptre of 
Louis a boy, Louis XIV., whose reign of nearly three 

quarters of a century (1643 to 1715) determines the 
point of French decline. We may call it decline, since this 
M^as the result, although the name of Great was then, and 
has since been given to the king, as if his government had 
been fruitful in grandeur and in beneficence. It was fruit- 
ful in neither. Its grandeur consisted of a dazzling court 
and a glittering army — elements of feebleness, as every 
one knows, rather than of greatness. Its beneficence was 
confined to courtiers and to commanders, to men not only of 
high but of low estate, provided they ministered to the royal 
will and to the royal luxury. But to be more definite. 
The mon- The reign of Louis was hostile to the true princi- 
arcby. pjg ^^ monarchy ; that is, to the principle of ruling 
for the good of a people. He used his power for selfish 
ends, in striving after which he did far more to precipitate 
than to secure the royal authority. If he made himself the 
preeminent sovereign, he did not make his nation the pre- 
eminent nation in Europe. Nor was he himself supreme 

(69) 



70 PART II. 1G38-17G;?- 

for any Icnixtli of time. lie saw liis intrif>;uos bafllcd, Lis 
armies defeated, his conquests and liis resources gone, his 
court overshadowed, even before lie ceased to rule. 
Ti,^ The one point, however, on which he failed mo^i 

ci.iinii. Qf .^]|^ ^y.j^ jjj i-,^.lation to the national religion. He 
found this, it will he n'lnenibered, a moderate form of 
Komanisin. He left it an extreme form. His displeasure 
bore down the liberal Romanists. His persecution crushed 
the Protestants. The edict of Nantes, beneath which the 
Protestants had found protection for nearly a century, was 
revoked, not without previous outrages, (1G8;5.) Bigotry 
and priestcraft triumphed, but in a manner tiiat tended to 
their oveitlirow, nay, to the jeopardy of the ndigion itself 
which they professed to ui)hold. No crisis in French his- 
tory was more important than this. It changed the charac- 
ter not only of the national religion, but of the national gov- 
ernment — even of the nation. The signs of feebleness 
Avitliin and of feebleness without in the administration, the 
disunion and thct degradation amongst the people, sprang 
from no cause more clearly than from the transformation of 
the P>ench church into a church of subjection to Rome, and 
of ferocity to all the world besides. It was thus chiefly that 
Louis left France shaken to the centre and to the base. 
Ti,e At the same time, the development of the French 

nation, nation, begun in previous years, was not stopped. 
It was not even checked in some directions. Tlu'ir chival- 
rous natures could not be turned back upon themselves. 
They were still the same ardent, the same generous race 
that they had been, more generous and more ardent than 
their king who was misleading them. Their higlier minds 
gazed u})wards steadily, in defiance of tlu; eri'ors and the 
wrongs around them. The names of Corneille the poet, of 
]*a-(al the philoso[)her, of Fenelon at once the \)ovt, the 
l)luloso})her, and the priest, bear witness to the aspirations 
of the French nation. 



ENGLAND AND FHANCE FROM 1638 TO 1763. 71 

Sucli an age as that of Louis XIV. was sure to 
be followed bj a reaction. The long reign of his 
successor, Louis XV. (1715-74) was marked by almost 
every sign of degeneracy. Profligacy rather than splendor, 
sensuality rather than ambition, ruled at the court, while the 
church sank into indifference and infidelity. The people 
beneath these decaying oppressions is represented by Vol- 
taire and Rousseau, both defying the corruptions in high 
places, yet neither believing in any prmciple that could 
restore purity or liberty. 
_, „ The English nation had its difficulties. Li the 

The Eiig- ^ 

lieh na- first pUicc, the pcoplc was but partially in existence. 
Such men as pursued their callings at home, or 
crossed the sea to the colonies, with any thing like independ- 
ence of spirit, formed but a small class. The greater pro- 
portion were of the dependent and the inefficient. In the 
next place, a succession of struggles was interfering with 
all steadiness in the present, all security in the future. 
reriods First came the period of Charles I., when the 
of trial, monarch excited his subjects to rebellion, (1625-49.) 
Next followed the period of the commonwealth, when the 
fierce excesses of the people threatened general ruin, 
(1649-59.) Then came the period of the restoration, 
when the brothers Charles II. and James II. renewed the 
arbitrary government of their father, the first Charles, with- 
out any of his principle or enthusiasm, (1660-88.) These 
periods were all of trial — trial to the church, trial to the 
state. The monarchy was in danger of falling, now into 
anarchy, now into tyranny. The church was in peril at 
one time of returning to the extreme of Romanism, and 
at another of falling into the extreme of Protestantism, 
j^ ^ J From these trials it is common to say that the 

tion of nation was saved by the revolution of 1688. So 

1688 

far as this event brought the despotism and the 



72 TAUT II. 1GC8-17G3. 

cxtnniic Komaiii-ni of Juiiu's 11. t(j an eiul, it diil siive Enp^- 
laml. But it had its own evil etiects. Jl rcduoiMl both 
climch :uul state beneath an aristoeraey whose principles, 
on many points, were utterly adverse to the true concerns 
of either. Tlicre was no liberation, no elevation of the 
peoph'. To tlicni the revolution was as little a matter of 
inttTcst as if it had occurred at the antipodes. The truth 
is, that the revolution, in itself, was but a cessation of the 
swayings to and fro of tlic preceding years. Inasnnicli as it 
brought some measure of stabiHty, it was a national bk'ssing. 
.^j^ But the stability was the stability of the aristoc- 

rticy in racy. The sovereigns sank to a secondary place, 
yowcr. ^Yiiiiam III., the hero of the revoliili(»n and the 
successor of James, was one to follow events rather than to 
lead them, (1 088-1702.) His successors, Anne and the 
first and second Georges, (1702-60,) had no decided influ- 
ence upon the national destinies. The rulers of England 
were its ministers and its Parliaments, turbid in them- 
selves, yet the channels through which the stream was run- 
ning before reaching its clearer and its wider course. The 
monarchy necessarily continued limited. But the church 
did not continue moderate, or even united. lUs moderation 
gave way to the conservative aristocracy, the tories ; its 
union yielded to the anti-conservative whigs. When these 
predominated, it was to the gain of Puritanism ; when tlie 
tories got the upper hand, an extreme churchmanship pre- 
vailed. 

English Yet the star of England was not going down. 
progress, 'j^^^q y(^,.y f,^(.ts of an aristocracy and a Parhameiit 
im|)ly that a larger number were sharing in the luitional 
power. A larger number also amongst the subject classes 
was rising to culture and to influence. The grandeur of 
such strains as Milton's, of such discoveries as Newton's, 
and the gentleness of such meditations as Addison's, of such 



ENGLAND AND FRANCE FROM 1638 TO 1763. 73 

creations as Goldsmith's, betoken wider circles of intelli- 
gence and of elevation. After all its humiliations, the 
nation still stood erect, still struggled forward. 
^ , , Here Ues the dilFerence between England and 

England ^ * 

and France. The latter came out of her trials listless, 
corrupt, unbelieving. The former emerged in faith 
and in sfctivity, many of her best interests broken and 
imperfect, but still capable of being restored, and to a 
higher state than they had ever reached. To England, the 
cycle of revolutions seemed closed for the time. To France, 
it seemed to be but opened. The one nation was still on the 
declme. The other had begun to rise. 
7 



CHAPTER II. 

Tin: Thirteen Colonies. 
We left various colonies from Eiif'lantl scattered 

01(1 ami '^ 

new coio- over the Atlantic coast. Of these, tlie tlirce princi- 
pal, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Maryland, were 
j)ort rayed with comparative detail. Besides these tlirce, 
several were mentioned as existing in New England, while 
others were projected in New Jersey and Carolina. It is 
the purpose of this chapter to show how the older colonies 
were concentrated, while new colonies were founded and 
extended. 

Plymouth ^lic oldcst colony in New England — that of 
annexed. Plymouth — maintained its independence for seventy 
years. It was then annexed to Massachusetts, (1G91.) 
Maine an- The name of New Somersetshire was changed to 
Bexed. Maine at the same time that Sir Ferdinando Gorges 
was constituted lord palatine of the province, (1639.) His 
d('i)nty presi.'ntly ai)peared to hold a general court at Saco, 
( 1 () 10.) The grant to Gorges covered the district from the 
Piscataqua to the Kennebec ; but within a very few years 
one of the numerous patents, previously mentioned as con- 
veying the same soil to different parties, was revived, and 
the land l^etween the Kennebec and the Saco became a dis- 
tinct territory, as Ligonia, (1643.) Some time later the two 
divisions were both annexed to Massachusetts, (1652-58,) 
then separated, (1665,) then reannexed, (1668,) and at 
length bought of the Gorges heirs by the colony of Massa- 

(74) 



THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 75 

chusetts Bay, (1677.) East of the Kennebec, as far as 
Pemaquid Point, there lay a tract belonging to the prov- 
ince of New York, (1664,) but afterwards united with Mas- 
sachusetts, to which the territory beyond Pemaquid, previ- 
ously occupied by one or two French posts, was also 
attached, (1691.) This eastern region was afterwards de- 
tached by French conquest, (16*J6,) but was ultimately 
reunited to Massachusetts by treaty with France, (1713.) 
^^^ Not quite so various were the fortunes of the New 

Hamp- Hampshire settlements. Those at Dover, Ports- 
mouth, and Exeter,* surrendering themselves to 
Massachusetts, (1641-42,) left nothing but unsettled lands to 
bear the name of New Hampshire. But on the revival of 
the Mason claims to the territory east of the'Merrimac, 
New Hampshire was declared in England to be a royal 
province, (1677-79.) The nevv^ government had been in 
operation but a short and a troubled period, when the peo- 
ple again united themselves to Massachusetts, (1690-92 ;) 
and, though again disunited, they were once more rejoined 
to that colony, at least so far as to be under one and the 
same governor for nearly half a century, (1698-1741.) 
Annexation did not prevent disturbance. New Hampshire 
was still the object of suits and controversies on both sides 
of the ocean, while the course of affairs amongst the inhab- 
itants themselves was far from being peaceful. It finally 
became a separate province, (1741.) 

Massachu- Massachusetts Bay was the thriving sister, as we 
setts. ggg^ amongst the New England family. Her large 
immigrations and her increasing resources gave her the sta- 
bility and the unity which her neighbors lacked. She did 
not go without her trials. At the very time that Plymouth 
and Maine were added to her domains, her independence of 

* Founded by Wheelwright, one of the Hutchinson exiles, in 1638. 



7G PAltT II. 1G3S-1703. 

frovommont wa> reduced by achanp:<' in her eharter, (K'.Ol,) 
of which we sluill take notice hereafter. Tiie colony con- 
tinued, however, to thrive. 

Counecti- ^^ the three settlements in Connecticut, two, 
^■"'- namely, Saybrook and Connecticut, were early 
united under the latter name, (U) 14.) For this colony a 
ro\al charter was afterwards procured by John Winthrop, 
the early pnernor, (1002.) The cliarter included the ct>l- 
onyof New Haven; but to tliis commiuiity the provisions of 
the instrument were so unaccej»tabie that the union was not 
consummatetl for two years, nor would it have been so soon 
])ut for external circumstances, (Hir),").) While the Con- 
necticut territory was tluis rounded oil" it was cut into by the 
jrnmt of Lon;:^ Island to the province of New York, for 
which, likewise, the main land wii-^ claimed as fur as the 
Connecticut River. But this claim was repelled. 
j^j,^,jq The settlements of Providence and Rhode Island 

isi.ind. were united under a single charter procured by 
their founder, Roger Williams, from the crown, (1044.) 
He went a second time to England to obtain itc, conlii*ma- 
tion during the commonwealth, (1051-52,) being elected 
president of the colony on his return, (1054.) Sus})ended 
at a later time, the charter was renewed by the ro} al gov- 
ernment, (lOOo.) A portion of the territory supposed to 
b(* covered by the charter, and lying to the west of the 
Narraganset waters, was for a long period se})arated from 
the colony, under the name of the King's Province, 
(1005-1727.) 

Thus were the various colonies of New England 
colonies Tcduccdto four — Ncw Hampshire, Massachusetts, 
In Now Rhod{? Island, and Connecticut. A fifth colony, the 
'■^ ' ' later State of Vermont, was prepared by the Massa- 
chusetts Fort Dummer, on the site of Brattleboro*, (1724,) 
and by the New Hampshire grants of townshi])s, Benning- 



THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 77 

ton being the earliest, (1749.) But the four elder colonies 
were all that enter into the list of the thirteen. 

Virginia, the oldest of the colonies, was still the 
"s^°^^- j^Qg|. extensive in its limits. On the north, a bound 
seemed to be set by the grant of Maryland. But on the 
west and the south, Virginia stretched indefinitely, the grant 
of Carolana existing only upon paper. The government of 
the colony was frequently altered. Under the English 
commonwealth, the governors were chosen by the colonial 
assembly, (1 652-60.) An earher grant of the lands between 
the Potomac and the Rappahannoc to Lord Culpepper and 
his associates, (1649,) Avas afterwards revived, and extended 
to a lease of the entire colony for thirty-one years, (1673.) 
In vain did the Virginia assembly protest against the pro- 
ceeding; in vain did it demand a charter to protect it 
against similar aggressions. Culpepper, buying out his 
associates and obtaining the appointment of governor fc^ 
life, (1675,) sported his authority in England for sever^ 
years before he made his appearance in Virginia, (1680.) 
His own disappointment being quite as great as the discon- 
tentment of his subjects, his authority over them was sur- 
rendered, and the provincial government was restored, 
(1684.) But, twenty years later, (1704,) a somewhat sim- 
ilar system was established by the appointment of one Eng- 
lish nobleman after another to be governor ; he, in his turn, 
sending out his lieutenant governor to administer the colony 
in his name. All the while the colony was increasing. On 
the south, indeed, its territories were restricted by the crea- 
tion of new colonies ; but on the west its settlers were cross- 
ing the mountains and clearing the farther valleys. 

The adjoining colony of IMaryland underwent few 

' territorial changes. Its vicissitudes, like those of 

Virginia, consisted in its passing and repassing into new 

hands. As Virginia changed from a province to a proprie- 

7 * 



78 PART 11. 1638-1763. 

tary colony, «o INIaryland clianp^ed from a proprietary colony 
to a j)i-()viiicc. Aftrr various disturbances in none of 
^vhi(']l, liowcvcj-, had the proprietor's power been actually 
cast oir, a convention of the Protestant settlers deposed the 
proprietary olficers, (1G8U.) and tran.sferred the capital of 
the colony from the Catholic St. Mary's to the Prot(;stant 
Annajjolis, (IG!)!.) As the Protestant fervor in England 
'vvas just then at its hciulit, the proceedinjis of the colony 
Avere contiiincd by the crown. But the head of the propri- 
<'tary family in the next generation, Benedict Leonard, 
Lord Baltimore, becoming an EngHsh churchman, recov- 
ered the possession of Maryland, (1715.) 

The first of the new colonies amongst the thirteen 

Carolina. ^ . . • i i i /> 

was Carolina. Ihis was the territory nichidcd hrst 
in the limits of Virginia, and then in those of Carolana by 
royal patent. The patentee of Carolana had made no set- 
tlement or grant ; but Virginia had granted at least a ]K>r- 
Tion of the territory by act of assembly, (1G43.) Another 
])ortioii was occupied by a Massachusetts party settled neai* 
the mouth of Ca})e Fear River, on land purchased from the 
Indians, (1()G().) Without regard to any of these claims, 
eight persons of the highest rank, amongst them the Earl 
of Clarendon, then prime minister, obtained a royal patent 
lor all the territory between Albemarle Sound and the St. 
John's River, (1GG3.) A second charter extended the 
northern boundary to Chowan River, and the southern to 
below the Spanish St. Augustine, (1G65,) while a third 
charter annexed the lialiama Islands to the swollen i)rov- 
ince, (1GG7.) 

North and It was swollcu oiily ou tlic map. In reality, it 
^"'^- liad but one or two shriv(;lled settlements. The 
nucleus of North Carolina was a Virginian settlem(Mit, not 
included in Carolina until the second charter, (IGG.j.) The 
^Massachusetts colony Ibrmed the nucleus of South Caro- 



THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 70 

Una. Meeting \\ath trials and desertions, this colony was 
absorbed in, rather than strengthened by, a band from Bar- 
badoes. Other parties came from England, from New 
J^ngland, and from New York ; with Presbyterians fron^ 
Scotland and Ireland, and Huguenots from France, 
(1671-86.) Of the various settlements that arose, Charles- 
ton took the lead, (1680.) Both North and South Carolina 
were organized as proprietary governments. Such, how- 
ever, were the troubles ensuing beneath these forms, that 
the Assembly of South Carolina, many years later, declared 
the proprietors to have forfeited their dominion. Follow- 
ing up a successful insurrection against the proprietary 
officials by an appeal to England, the South Carolinians 
obtained a provisional royal government, (1719-21.) Some 
time after, the crown, by act of Parliament, bought out 
seven of the eight proprietors, the eighth retaining his prop- 
erty, but not his sovereignty, (1729.) A governor was 
then appointed by the croAvn for North Carolina, both divis- 
ions being organized as royal provinces. Thenceforward, 
the two pursued their destinies separately. 
j^e^ The next year after the grant of Carolina, a new 

York. grant w^as made in peculiar circumstances. New 
Netherland, though still occupied by the Dutch, was, as 
the province of a nation at war with England, conveyed 
by Charles II. to his brother James, Duke of York and 
Albany, as proprietor ; the limits of the province being ex- 
tended from the Connecticut to, and presently beyond, the 
Delaware, (16G4.) In addition, the grant covered the 
eastern part of Maine and the islands to the south and Avest 
of Cape Cod, which the duke had obtained by transfer to 
him of early grants from the Council for New England.* 
These portions, however, of his domain fell at a later time 

* To Sir William Alexander, afterwards Earl of Stirliiii?, in 1621-35. 



80 PART II. ir.ns-iTfi.i. 

bonrath (h.- jur"n<li(tinn of M:Hs:irlm<»tt'J, as has boon ob- 
gervrd ; while imiili (if the main juon iii<-»- w»nt to Connecti- 
cut, New Jrrscy, I'cnnsylvania, and Delaware. The seizure* 
of the jn-ovince froin the Dutch will be told in anollur 
chapter. It continued under a proprietary form of govern- 
ment until the ac<-e>.Mon of the proprietor to the throne of 
England. It then became a royal province; though, while 
James II. ruled, it wa- mon^ immediately d<'pendent upon 
the royal authority than Wits customary with tlu; provinces 
in general, (D)H.!)-.SH). 

N\.w Jor- Hardly had the Duke of York obtained the grant 
siv. of his j)rovince, when he conveyed that portion of it 

between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers to Sir George 
Carteret and Lord Berkeley, both amongst the j)n)prietor3 
of Carolina, (1GG4.) A few hamlets of Dutch and English, 
who had crossed Irom Long Island, were already sprinkled 
upon the territory, when the lirst town under the new pro- 
prietors was founded, and called Elizabethtown, (IC.Go.) 
The province was named New Jersey. As in Maryland 
and Carolina, so in New Jersey, there soon arose dissensions 
between the colonists and the proprietors. The projjrietors 
were changed. Berkeley sold out his half to certain Qua- 
kers, who made a settlement at Salem, (1G75.) In the fol- 
lowing year, a formal separation of the province took place, 
the settlement at Salem being situate in AVest, juid that at 
Eli/abethtown in East New Jersey ; the latter division re- 
maining with Carteret. A treaty with the Indians, under 
the auspices of the Quakers, confirmed the rights of the 
proprietors, (1G78.) Soonafter,a company, of which some, 
but not all, the members were Quakers, made the purchase 
of East New Jersey, (1G82.) A large Presbyterian emi- 
gration from Scotland then took place, (1G85.) But the 
growth of the province, as well as that of its western sister, 
wivs greatly ini})eded, jnirtly by domestic disputes between 



THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. 81 

the proprietors and the settlers, and partly by contentions 
with the officials of New York, who pretended to continued 
jurisdiction over the lands which had been separated from 
that province. The Jerseys were finally surrendered by 
their proprietors to the crown, (1702.) They were then 
reunited as a royal province, for many years, (until 17^38,) 
under the same governor as New York. 
Pennsyi- ^ Quaker, mterested in both the Jerseys during 
vauia. ^jjg Quaker possession, obtained the grant of the 
adjoining territory on the west. A royal charter constituted 
Wilham Penn proprietor of a district whose extent, thou^ 
uncertain, might have been described in general as lying 
between New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. To this 
the name of Pennsylvania was given by the crown, (1681.) 
A grant from the Duke of York conveyed the territories on 
the lower shore of the Delaware to the same proprietor, 
(1682.) Of this wide domain, a variety of settlers, Dutch, 
Swedes, and English, w^ere partially in occupation. To 
take them beneath his rule, the proprietor sent out an agent 
with conciliatory assurances, Avhile, to introduce fresh bodies 
of inhabitants, especially of his own persuasion, he formed 
an association in England. The first fruits were two colo- 
nies, one led by three commissioners, in the year of the 
charter, (1681,) the other conducted by Penn himself in 
the following year, (1682.) A convention of the different 
settlers, new and old, presently accepted the proprietor's 
organization of the province, including the territories of 
both the royal and the ducal grants, with their previous 
inhabitants. Next followed a treaty with the natives, a 
peaceful and a feeble tribe of Indians, whose acquiescence 
in his plans might have been disregarded by Penn without 
any danger, had he not preferred to be just. The town of 
Philadelphia was then begun, and there the first Assembly 
of Pennsylvania was soon convened, (1683.) With all 



82 PAllT II. iG;;s-i7a3. 

Pcnii's o:iro, and all his IVaiiics of <roVrniinciit, of which 
lli( re was a Lrnotllv minihcr, tlic coiir-c of his iimpi-ictor- 
.-hij> (U(l not run sinootli. Troubles within the colony were 
ai-conipani«d by troubles without ; the province Ijeinj^ at 
one time taken from him by the English aiitliorities, (1002 
-[){.) Even after hi^ re.->toration, he found matters so dilfi- 
cull to manage, that he at length j)r(jposed to cede hi.s sov- 
ereignty to the crown, (1710.) He retained it, however, 
and transmitted it to his sons, to be much the same source 
of struggle to them that it had been to him. 
The territories, so styled, of Delaware, orimnally 

a Swedish, afterwards a Dutch, possession, then au 
appendage of New York, and then again annexed to Penn- 
sylvania, became so far separate from the latter province 
as to obtain a distinct assembly, though continuing to have 
the same governor, (1702.) 

Lasf of tlu^ thirteen was the colony of Georgia, 

Georgia. . r. ^• i • i *i • i i c 

m loundmg which there were mingled purposes of 
resistance to the Spaniards an<I the French in the south, 
as well as of relief to the suffering in England. A mem- 
ber of the House of Commons, James Edward Oglethorpe, 
had been active in proposing and carrying out an inquiry 
into the state of the prisons in Great Britain. The idea 
of rescuing some of the prisoners from a state of degrada- 
tion even greater than they could have fitllen into by them- 
selves, and of settling them in a colony, occurred to Ogle- 
thorpe, as a philanthropist, while, as an officer in the royal 
army, he was also sensitive on the point of defending the 
colonial boundaries against the encroachments of other 
powers in America. The purchase of the Carolinas by 
the crown (1720) opened the way to the foundation of a 
colony to the south of the settlements already made ; and 
for this a grant was obtained of the territory between the 
Savannah and Altamaha Rivers, under the royal name of 



THE THIRTEEN COLONIES 83 

Georgia, (1732.) The charter conveyed the land and the 
dominion over it, not to colonists, nor yet to proprietors, but 
to twenty-one trustees, who, though subject to the royal over- 
sight, and to the obligations of the English law, were other- 
wise clothed with full power for twenty-one years. A com- 
mon council of thirty-four members, fifteen of whom were 
named in the charter, and the rest appointed by the trustees, 
were to act as a board of administration merely. The colo- 
nial lands, it was further provided, were to be held by feudal 
tenure ; that is, only by male heirs. A universal interest 
was excited by this novel scheme of colonization. General 
subscriptions poured in to aid the trustees in their half- 
benevolent, half-patriotic plans, while Parliament made a 
national grant of ten thousand pounds. First to enlist 
personally, was a party of more than one hundred, whom 
Oglethorpe himself led to the settlement, wliich he named 
Savannah, (1733.) Every thing seemed to bid fair ; the 
Indians were conciliated, the colonists were satisfied, the 
nation was all alive with sympathy. Immigrants came 
from afar ; Moravians from Germany ; Presbyterians from 
the northern mountains of Scotland ; the earnest and the 
careless, the peasant and the prisoner, united in one people, 
(1731-3G.) To the generous project of saving the convicts 
of Britain was added the devoted hope of the Moravians 
that the natives of America might be converted. But 
there was a dark side to the scene from the first. The 
character of the colonists, that is, of the main body from 
England, was helpless enough, not to say corrupted enough, 
to cause great difficulties both to themselves and to their 
trustees. It will be seen hereafter that the military ser- 
vice expected from the colony was pretty much a failure. 
The colony soon became a royal province, (1754-55.) 

Such were the thirteen colonies of England. Spread 
out with indefinite borders and indefinite resources, they lay 



8i 



PART II. lG;i8-17G.l 



Aspect ^''^^' "^'■'^^' l'"i"ts alon*; tlic Athintic shnro. The 
of the e}X' that .-aw thtni, separate and iiKh>tinc(, as they 

tliirtctn. I 1 • • 

ro.<e at tin* l)c';j:iiuiin^r, could catch no vi.>ion of tlic 
liniad licld.s ami the liiiilful \al(s tliat were to i'X])aiid and 
l)l('n(l toircthcr in tlir liitnrc. As we look hack ourselves, 
ue see (i-w |.r(»iiu.-«'s ot development or of unity in the early 
days of the lliirteen colonies. 



Races. 



CHAPTER III. 
Colonial Relations. 

The thirteen colonies were the colonies of Eng- 
land. But they were far from being settled exclu- 
sively by Englishmen. The west, the centre, and the 
south of Europe all sent forth emigrants in greater or less 
numbers to people the American shore. Nor did these 
come to the settlements of other nations, to those of the 
Spaniards, the French, the Dutch, or the Swedes, alone, but 
rather to the English colonies, whose praise it is to have 
thus attracted and provided for the stranger. 

As there were different races, so there were dif- 
ferent classes. First came the gentleman, peculiar- 
ly so styled, of various look and of various spirit, according 
to the respective colonies, but every where classified as of 
" the better sort." This order was perpetuated by the law 
of primogeniture, the eldest son receiving at least a double, 
if not more than a double, share of his father's estate. Next 
were the people of " the poorer sort " — the lower orders, as 
their name denotes. But by no means the lowest ; as 
there were others beneath them in the scale. The indent- 
ed servants, or apprentices, constituted a class of temporary 
bondmen. Sometimes exactly what their name suggests, 
too young or too shiftless to be their own masters, the in- 
dented were often men of a higher grade, the adherents, 
in many instances, of a defeated party or of a persecuted 
creed, who, falling into the hands of their opponents, were 
8 (85) 



80 'hART II. 1638-1763. 

sold for tr-;insj)()rt:iti()ii to a mai'krt wlicn* tln'V couM Ix- ro- 
soldi at a protit. Siicli ^^«•^(' tlic Kii;ilisli r(»yali>t>, taken 
oaptive l»y the pailiaincmary turccs ; sueli tlir Hoiiian 
Catholifs, ('()n([ii('n'il while ti;i;liting lor their faitli in Ireland. 
Such, too, were many of the exiles from the continent. So 
jricat were the nunihers inijiorted a.> to amount — and 
in time ot" peace — to lit'leen hundred a year in tlie 
sin<2jle province of Virginia. The little consideration that 
there was for the class apjx'ars in the colonial codes.* 
Lower still, however, were the slaves. Th<' first of this 
class were Indians, capturecl in wars or taken in snares, 
sometimes bought of their j)ar('nts, even of themselves. 
Then came the negroes from Africa. These poor creatures 
found little mercy in the colonial statutes. The English 
law recognizing slavery declared the children of a free 
lather to be free. But the Virginian code declared a 
child to follow the lot of the mother, (1G(>2.) The law of 
England pronounced it felony to kill a slave. The law of 
Virginia decided it to be none, (ir>G7.)t 
Of the old These classes were confined to no colony, and to 
world. f,Q tlivision of colonics. They existed amongst the 
rigid settlers of the north as well as amongst the freer 

♦ Maimed by a master, the servant is to be set free, (Mass. 1641 ; N. Y. 
166o ;) but any resistance on the servant's part entails an additional year 
of servitude, ( Va. 170o.) Such as escape from their bonds arc to be given 
up to their masters, or else .their value is to be made up by those who 
harbor them, (Ya. 16G1.) Poorly as the class was rated, there was that 
about them, in their anger, which prompted the Virginians to make a 
" perpetual holiday " of the day on whirh a conspiracy, detected amongst 
their servants, was to have been executed, (1603.) 

t The Virginia laws make it allowable to kill a fugitive, (1672.) forbid 
the slave at any time to carry arms, (1682,) cut him off from trial by jury, 
(1692,) and prohibit his manumission, except he is transported out of the 
province, (1602.) or except the governor and coimcil deem him worthy of 
his liberty, (1724.) Other codes take much the same tone, \\-ithout always 
entering into the same details. The most rigid laws were those of South 
Carolina, (1712-^50.) 



• COLONIAL RELATIONS. 87 

and easier planters of the south. But they were not of 
colonial creation. They came from the old world, trans- 
planted from its ancient lands to the virgin soil of America. 
If they did not die, it was inevitable that they would take 
root and grow up with renewed luxuriance, 
institu- The sketch that goes before shows us that the 
tions be- colonial institutions were not the institutions of all. 
the^free- They belonged to the freemen, so styled, " the bet- 
men, ^gj, sort," with but a portion of " the poorer sort " 
thrown in. Indented servants and slaves, of course, had 
no part in the poKtical or the social privileges of their supe- 
riors. But besides the bondmen proper, there was a large 
number not bondmen, and yet not freemen by the laws 
of the colonies. " The people," says an early writer on the 
Massachusetts system, " begin to complain they are ruled 
like slaves." Actual restlessness was showing itself. " It 
is feared," says the same writer, " that elections cannot be 
safe there long, either in church or commonwealth, so that 
some melancholy men think it a great deal safer to be in 
the midst of troubles in a settled commonwealth, or in 
hope easily to be settled,* than in mutinies there, so far off 
from succors," (1641.) 

English The institutions of the freemen sprang from the 
law. English law. How far this extended over the colo- 
nies was a vexed question. One class of jurists or of 
statesmen in England maintained that America was a con- 
quered country, a country wrested from the native or the 
European races whom the English found in possession of it. 
The deduction from tliis view was, that the institutions of 
the country were at the pleasure of the crown or of the 
Parliament of England. But another class held opposite 
ground, asserting that the colonists were entitled, without 

* Referring to the disturbances in England. 



88 TART II. 1638-17G3. • 

any consent or dissent on tlie jKirt of England, to all the 
rights ot" En^^lishnirn, inasnuich as tin- connlry was a dis- 
covered, not a eoncincred one. Some persons held an in- 
tennediatti opinion, denying liie notion of conquest, and yet 
denyin;^ the inherent claim of tlie colonists to Kurdish 
privileges, making; their ri^dits dej)end on actual grants from 
the sovereign j)ower. So when the haljeas corj)us act, j»ro- 
viding for the issue of a writ to produce the body of a prisoner, 
was j)assed, (IGSO,) it was .Naid not to extend to the colonies, 
Ix'cause they were not s})ecially mentioned in ilie bill. A 
shnilar act, adopted by the Massachusetts General Court, 
was annulled by the crown, (1IVJ2.) But the privilege 
was afterwards tacitly, if not explicitly, allowed. The 
liberal system of int<M-pretation slowly i)revailing, the Eng- 
lish law was almost universally recognized to be the birth- 
right of the colonies as truly as of the mother-land. 
Colonial '^^^^ governments of the colonies were variously 
govoin- organized. Those under charters were altogether 
in the hands of the colonists. The charter of i\Ias- 
sachusetts, indeed, was so far altered in IGOl as to transfer 
the appointment of the governor, lieutenant governor, and 
secretary to the crown, and even to prescribe the conditions 
on which the inhabitants should be admitted as freemen. 
The charters of Connecticut (1GG2) and Kliode I>l:ind 
(IG41— 63) left the entire administration to the c(;lonir5ts. 
The seven colonies originally under j)roprietary govern- 
ment — Maryland, the Carolinas, New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, and Delaware — were of course subject to 
the authority of their proprietors, but with many restric- 
tions upon it in favor of the colonists. The Carolinas, 
under the mod(d of John Locke,* and New Yoi'k, under 

* John Locke, the j^rcat i)hilosophcr, was employed by the Carolinian 
proprietors to embody their ideas — one cannot but think — rather than 
liis own, in what was called *' the grand model," or " the fundamental con- 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. 89 

the arbitrary rule of its dneal proprietor, who allowed no 
Assembly till 1 683, were not so favorably situated. Penn- 
syhania Avas subjected to claims asserted nowhere else, as 
well as deprived of rights denied nowhere else, by two 
peculiarities in the charter to William Penn ; one, the as- 
sertion of the power of Parliament to tax the colony, the 
other, the omission of the title of the colonists to the rights 
of Englishmen. The record that four of the proprietary 
governments were changed to royal governments, — the 
Carolinas, New York, and New Jersey, — and all at the 
desire of the colonists, bears witness against the institutions 
of which proprietors were the chiefs. The royal provinces, 
liowever, were organized on the same terms as the proprie- 
tary colonies, except that, the king being at the head of 
affairs, the institutions of the provinces were more uniform. 
The number of provinces was seven : the four just men- 
tioned, with the older Virginia and New Hampshire and 
the younger Georgia. 

In some of the colonies, especially those in the 

Towns. ' ^ •' 

north, the towns were at the centre of their organi- 
zation. These were the primary bodies in which the colonists 



stitutions." Of the system thus concocted, the primary element was 
property, the scale of colonial dignities being graduated according to the 
possessions of the colonist. Seigniories for the proprietors, baronies for 
landgraves and caciques, colonies for lords of manors, or freeholders, 
were the divisions of the soil. Authority was parcelled out amongst pala- 
tine and other courts for the proprietors, a grand council for them and 
their nobility, and a Parliament for the proprietors, the nobility, and the 
lords of manors. As for those not wealthy enough for either of these classes, 
they were hereditary tenants, or else slaves. The church of the colony 
was to be the church of England, with a certain amount of toleration for 
other creeds. This extraordinary mass of titles and of powers held to- 
gether for just twenty-three years, (1669-1693,) but without ever getting 
into actual operation. It was relinquished by the proprietors at the uni- 
versal desire of the colonists, who naturally preferred the simpler and the 
freer institutions originally reared under the charter. 
8* 



90 TAUT II. ir.;]8-17G3. 

woro fjr()ii|)(Ml and traiii<'(| as trt'cmcn. Tlirir >voikiiijxs, 
wlu'i'i' tlicy cxi.-tcd, arc writlni on tvrvy \)iv^{' of tlic colo- 
nial and llic iialional annals. NVlicrc they did not exist, tlicir 
jjlaccs were hut poorly .•>iii)i)li('d by plantations or vestries. 
An instinct, as it may he called, alter the estahlishnient of 
tt)wns, led the early legi^hltors ot" Virginia into curious 
expcilients. At one time, tin? resources of the colony were 
to be brought to bear on making Jamestown a city worthy 
of the name, (1(')(')2 ;) at another, eiich county was directed 
to lay out a town of its own, (1G80.) At length a new 
capital was Ibunded at Williamsburg, (IGUtS.) 
Aasem- Next to the town or it.s substitute, under every 

lilies. form of government as ultimately established, there 
was one and the same body. This was the assembly, the 
same cherished institution to the colony that Parliament 
was to the mother land. At lir.-t, in some })laces, com- 
posed of all the freemen, then placed upon a representative 
basis, and then divided into two houses, one of councillors 
or assistants, the other of reinvsentatives or burgesses, the 
assembly exercised all the functions of a legislature, sub- 
ject, of course, to the law and the sovereign of England. 
The House of Representatives, or of Burgesses, as the case 
might be in the different colonies, constituted the popular 
branch, so entirely in some instances as to go by the 
name of the assembly, leaving the councillors or assistants 
to appear, what they generally were, the officers of the 
crown. But the assembly wiis by no means popular, ac- 
cording to modern notions. A large amount of jn-operty, 
real or personal, was usually essential as a (lualification of 
membership, the very voters being under some conditions 
of the same nature. The sessions were often few and far 
between ; in some ccdonies, and at some periods, not more 
freijiieiit than once in three years, or even nioi-e than three. 
An assembly, moreover, would sometimes hold over bi'vond 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. 91 

its lawful term, becoming as much of a burden to the colony 
as it was intended to be an assistance. But when once 
convened, at the proper season and in the proper spirit, the 
assembly was a tower of strength to its people. 

That wbich was most variable, not to say most 

Cnurcnes. ... ^ ./ 

ineffective, in the cblonies, was the very thing that 
should have been most stable and most powerful. The 
church of Christ was rent with factions. The blessings 
that might have issued from a common church, had it been 
pure and true, have no place in our history. The church 
of England was established in Virginia, Maryland, the 
Carolinas, and Georgia. The Quakers and the Presby- 
terians prevailed in the central colonies ; in the northern, 
the Puritans carried all before them. Such divisions would 
not merely prevent unity ; they would break up liberty. 
Persecu- Amongst the harshest provisions of the Massa- 
tion iu chusetts svstem was that excluding ail but church 

Massa- ' , " 

chusetts. members from the rights of freemen. Against this, 
Child. chielly, was directed the petition of Dr. Robert 
Child, and six others, some of them of the highest station, 
church membership excepted, in the colony, (1646.) 
Child was a young man, recently arrived in the country 
with the purpose of making some scientific inquiiy into its 
mineral resources. At the time of his petition, he was on 
the point of returning to Englfind, but with the idea, ap- 
parently, of coming back to Massachusetts, could he be 
received on equal terms with the freemen of the colony. 
Be this as it may, he and his fellow-petitioners asked for 
admission to the privileges of Massachusetts, instead of 
which they found themselves charged with " contemptuous 
and seditious expressions," for which they were arraigned 
and heavily fined. Thus treated, they set about preparing a 
memorial, which Child was to convey to Parliament, and in 
support of which, another document, praying " for liberty 



92 PAIiT II. 1038-1703. 

of conscioiu'O, and for a general L^ovcnutr" from England, 
was lijistily p^ot up amongst several ol" the n»»n-frepmen of 
Boston and its ncigldiorliood. Only a few signatnros to 
tliis paper were obtained, probably on account of the risk 
whicii tlie signers ran ; one of the most active of their 
numl)er being put in irons, on the di.scovery of the affair 
by tiie magistrati'S. Ciiild himself, and .some of his fellow- 
memorialists, wei-e also seized; their pai)ers were examined, 
and their ])er.sons detained in custody until alter {ho. ship 
in wiiicli tiiey intendeil to take pa-sage for England had 
d<'j)ai-t<'(l, A copy of their memorial reached London, but 
was never acted upon. 

" I have done too much of that work already," 
John Winthrop, the governor for many years, is 
reported to have said in his last hours, when urged to sign 
an order of banishment against a believer in a different 
church than his own, (1G49.) But he left others to carry 
out the aiisterities from which the approach of death might 
well recall a human spirit. Within two years, John Clarke, 
a minister amongst the Baptist exiles of Rhode Ishmd, 
was arrested while preaching in a house at Lynn, (1G51.) 
" They more uncivilly disturbed us," said he, " than the 
pursuivants of the old Engli.sh bishops were wont to do." 
Imi)ris()ned with some of his fellow-r>aptists in Boston, 
Clarke did not give way, but demanded the op})ortunity of 
proving, })risoner as he was, " that no servant of Jesus 
Ciirist hath any authority to restrain any fellow-servant in 
his worship, where no injury is offered to others." The 
answer of the magistrates was, " Fined twenty pounds, or to 
be well whipped." One of his comrades escaped with a 
smaller fine, but another was whipped, while two persons 
who showed compassion upon him were themselves arrested 
and fined. Clarke, after paying his fine, would have sailed 
to Englan<l. But not allowed even to do this, he made his 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. 93 

way to New Amsterdam, where he met with huinaner treat- 
ment, and found the means of crossing the sea. Arrived 
in England, he pubHshed his " 111 News from New Eng- 
land," " wherein is declared, that while old England is 
becoming new,* New England is becoming old." "The 
authority there established," he says, " cannot permit men, 
though of never so civil, sober, and peaceable a spirit and 
life, freely to enjoy their understandings and consciences, 
nor yet to live or come among them, unless they can do as 
they do, and say as they sa}', or else say nothing ; and so 
may a man live at Rome also," (1652.) 

Clarke's case appears to have excited attention, 
staU's notwithstanding the late indifference in relation to 
renion- Child and his fellow-petitioners. Such as were 

strance. ^ ^ 

opposed to the Puritans did not stand alone in con- 
demning their intolerance. One of their own number, an 
early and a distinguished member of the Massachusetts 
Company, wrote to the elders, Wilson and Cotton, in terms 
of sorrowful remonstrance. " It doth not a little grieve 
m}^ spirit to hear what sad things are reported daily of 
your tyranny and persecution in New England, as that you 
fine, whip, and imprison men for their consciences. . . . 
These rigid ways have laid you low in the hearts of the 
saints." Thus wrote Sir Richard Saltonstall, a Puritan, 
but not a persecutor, a lover of other men's hberty, as 
well as of his own. 

His letter was unheeded. Within a very brief 
of liar- period, the first president of Harvard College, 
vard Col- Henry Dunster, a clergyman, a scholar, and a 

true man, was tried, convicted, and obhged to 
resign his office, on the charge of being a Baptist, (1654.) 
" The whole transaction of this business," wrote he, " is 

* In the time of the commonwealth. 



94 PART II. 1638-1763. 

such, which in process of time, when all things come to 
mature consideration, may very probably create grief on 
all sides ; yours subse(|uent, as mine antecedent. 1 am 
not tlie man you take me to be." In the following year, 
(1655,) the corporation of the college appealed to the 
General Court to pay the amount still due to the depos(;d 
president, as well as to allow him something additional, " in 
consideration of his extraordinary pains." But so intem- 
perate was the disposition of the authorities, as to refuse 
not only the additional grant, but even the actual balance 
of the president's account. The spirit of wisdom had not 
yet descended either upon Harvard College or upon the 
community by which it had been founded. 

A new class of victims appeared. A few unhap- 
py Quakers — the more unhappy, if guilty of the 
fanatical excesses with which they were charged — came to 
Boston, some of them to brave, all of them to encounter, per- 
secution, (1G56.) Brought immediately before the magis- 
trates, they were first confined, and then sent away beyond 
the limits of the colony. Laws were at once passed, inflict- 
ing a fine of one hundred pounds ui)on any master of a 
vessel who brought a Quaker with him. and ordering im- 
prisonment and scourging for any Quaker that might 
appear. This not being deemed enougli, a new batch of 
statutes was prepared within the next two years, (1G57-58,) 
fining the spectator or the worshipper at a Quaker meeting, 
the host of a Quaker, and threatening the Quaker himself 
with loss of ears, mutilation of tongue, and, finally, if he 
returned after being banished, with death. In these horri- 
ble enactments, almost all New England, except Khode 
Island, coincided. They did not remain dead letters. One 
of the oldest freemen of the colony, Nicholas Tpsall, ac- 
cused merely of kindness to the persecuted, was banished 
for three years, and, on his return, was tliruwn into a two 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. 95 

years' imprisonment, (1656-59.) Nor was this the only- 
case of the kind. As for the persecuted themselves, they 
were fined, imprisoned, scourged, and at length hanged, 
(1659-60.) Had it not been for the royal commands that 
these outrages should cease, (1660,) there is no saying how 
far they might have been carried. As it was, the persecu- 
tion continued at intervals, until a fresh order came from 
the king, requiring liberty of faith for all Protestants, 
(1679.) 

The saddest deeds of oppression in Massachusetts 

Witches. ^ 1 -r. 

are yet to be told. It is accountable that the Puri- 
tan authorities should be bitter upon those who opposed 
their institutions or their creeds. But that they should 
raise a hue and cry against those who had no thought of 
opposing them, those against whom no charge could be 
substantiated but that of feebleness, of age, or of deformi- 
ty, seems mexplicable. An English law of older date than 
any existing English colony, (1603,) by which witchcraft 
was declared a capital crime, found a place amongst the 
so-called liberties of Massachusetts, (1641.) Some years 
elapsed before it was enforced, (1656;) nor did it then 
seem to set so well upon the consciences of the rulers as 
to make them desirous of keeping it in operation. A later 
attempt at the same sort of thing in Pennsylvania resulted 
in the acquittal of the unfortunate object of ill will, (1684.) 
When all was quiet, and the troubles of witchcraft appeared 
to have subsided forever, there was a sudden swell. A 
witch, so styled and so condemned, was executed at Boston, 
(1688.) One victim not being enough, others were soon de- 
manded, and found at Salem village, now Danvers. The 
magistrates of the colony had thrown a hundred persons 
into prison, when the governor. Sir William Phips, arrived 
from England to head the persecution. The lieutenant gov- 
ernor, William Stoughton, presided at the judicial tribunals. 



96 TART II. 1G3S-17G3. 

Behind lliese oflicial pei\<onages, several of the elders or 
ministers, led by Increase and Cotton Mather, father and 
son, urged on the ferocious pursuit. It lasted eight long 
months, devouring twenty victims, torturing many others, 
and threatening a still larger number, when the work of 
blood was arrested, partly by interference from Enghmd, 
and partly by accusations directed against some of the per- 
secutors themselves, (1G93.) "The Lord be merciful to 
the country," exclaimed Chief Justice Stoughton, on find- 
ing that he could sentence no more as guilty of witchcraft. 
Years later, the letters of Robert Calef, a merchant of 
Boston, who wrote against the fierce delusion of his neigh- 
bors, were burned in the yard of Harvard College by order 
of the president. Increase Mather, (1700.) 
„ We have lingered long in Massachusetts. It is 

Pei-secu- o ^ 

tion else- there that we find the most strikmg traces of that 
^ ^'''^^' persecuting spirit of which almost every colony had 
its share. New England, with one exception, occupied the 
same ground as its principal colony. New York ordered 
every Roman Catholic priest voluntarily entering the prov- 
ince to be hanged, (1700.) Protestants were likewise visited 
with penalties or with restrictions, unless they submitted to 
the church of England, (1704.) Maryland began by an 
act which proclaimed death to all who denied the Trinity, 
and fine, scourging, imprisonment, and banishment, to all 
who denied " the blessed Virgin Mary or the holy apostles 
or evangelists," (1649.) Long after, the Roman Catholics 
becoming, as has been mentioned, the objects of persecu- 
tion, their public services were forbidden, and tlieir offices 
as teachers, both private and public, were suspended, 
(1704.) Of all the colonies, however, none kept nearer to 
Massachusetts in the race of persecution than Virginia, the 
colony of the English, as Massachusetts was that of the 
Puritan church. A few Puritans, who liad found a corner 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. 97 

in Virginia, invited some ministers from Massachusetts and 
New Haven. Three came, but were ahnost immediately 
warned by the government " to depart the colony with all 
conveniency," (1642-43.) Another Puritan clerg;)Tnan, 
with many of his persuasion, was banished a few years 
later, (1648-49.) The Puritans being disposed of, the 
Quakers came in for attention. A law inflicted a hundred 
pounds' fine upon the sliipmaster who introduced, and 
upon the colonist who entertained, a Quaker, the Quaker 
himself being imprisoned until he gave security that he 
would leave the colony never to return, (1660-63.) Bap- 
tists were provided for in another law, subjecting them to 
a fine, (1662.) Thus the prey upon which the Puritan 
magistrates pounced in the north was assailed by the 
church of England authorities in the south. The same 
spirit, suspicious and oppressive, was at work throughout 
the land. 

Save in Save in one nook, where liberality and confidence 
Rhode prevailed. In Rhode Island, the colony whose 
people were twofold exiles, — exiles from England, 
and exiles from New England, — persecution found no jDlace. 
The assembly, gathered under the charter of 1644, estab- 
lished freedom of faith by legislative enactment, (1647.) 
In petitioning for the charter of 1663, the Rhode Islanders 
urged their " lively experiment that a most flourishing civil 
state may stand and best be maintained with a full liberty 
of religious concernments." Time and maturing wisdom 
had taught Roger Williams to practise what he preached 
in favor of liberty of conscience. Even the Quakers, 
whose doctrines he much disliked and opposed, found 
refuge amongst his people, and so securely, that Rhode 
Island refused to insist upon the oath of allegiance to the 
crown, on account of the Quaker scruples to taking oaths 
of any kind. " The first liberty," wrote Williams, " is of 

y 



1)8 PART II. lGo8-17r.3. 

onr spirits, \Yln(']j iioithor Old nor New Enp^land knows the 
like, nor no part ot" tlio worM a ;]^reater." He <li('(l, ( 1 (>.s;i ;) 
but so directly did his better spirit descend to those coming 
after him, that with one exception* bearing upon Roman 
Catholics, then excluded from the privileges of all the colo- 
nies, the laws of Rhode Island continued to bear and to for- 
bear for generation after generation. 

The relations between one class and another 

Iiiter-colo- 

iii.ii (Hffi- within the colony being such as have been described, 
it may be inferred how uncertain were the relations 
between colony and colony. Differences of origin and of 
situation, enhanced by differences of creed, of policy, and of 
interest, brouuht about divisions and hostilities. Nor were 
these confined to colonies that weiv far remoter from one 
another in position or in character. On the contrary, the 
instances to be mentioned are those of quarrels among 
neighbors ; nay, even among allies. 

Samuel Gorton, a clothier from London, who 
and Mas- fouud uo wclcouie iu Bostou, Plymouth, or even in 
s. ^j^^ j^iioeie Island settlements, purchased, in the last- 
named vicinity, some land from the Indians, and began the 
little colony of Shawomet. He seems to have been a 
sort of spiritualist, much given to rhapsody, if not blas- 
phemy, but harmless, disposed to force his views upon 
none, and ready to fly rather than to fight amidst the war- 
ring parties of New England. But when pursued by his 
old opponents of Massachusetts, on the ground that the land 
wliich his colony occupied was theirs by virtue of subse- 
quent negotiations with the Indians, Gorton resolved to 
make a stand, (1G43.) It was in vain. The dozen men 
whom he had with him could make no effectual defence 
against the forty who came, with commissioners at their 
head, from INIassachusetts. A few of the Shawomet party 
escaped ; but Gorton, with nine others, was transported a^ a 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. 99 

captive to Boston. There lie was put upon trial, partly for 
rejecting the dominion, and partly for rejecting the creed 
of his conquerors. Convicted, of course, he was set to work 
in irons, most of his companions meeting the same fate. 
But as they proved troublesome, especially by instilling 
their doctrines into those around them, they were set free, 
" no more to come into the colony, upon pain of death," 
(1644.) Gorton at once repaired to England, where, from 
the Earl of Warwick, then "governor-in-chief and lord 
high admiral of all those islands and plantations within 
the bounds and upon the coasts of America," he obtained a 
patent for his colony as a part of the Providence Planta- 
tions, the name of Shawomet being changed to that of its 
protector — AVar wick, (1647.) Not long after, Massachu- 
setts attempted to get up another onslaught upon the War- 
wick settlement, but was prevented, (1651.) 

Massachusetts was at the head of a confederacy, 
cobifiesof *^^^ ^^^U ^^ which will be found to throw much 
New Eng- ijgiit upon the relations of colony to colony. It 
had been proposed, at an early date, (1637,) to 
form a league amongst the New England settlements ; but 
the project fell through, on account of the resistance of Con- 
necticut to the demands of Massachusetts. Circumstances 
induced Connecticut to give way, some time afterwards, 
when a confederacy was formed, under the name of " The 
United Colonies of New England," (1643.) Each colony 
was to appoint two commissioners, who must be church 
members, to conduct all matters of administration, to depide 
upon questions of peace or war, to regulate the demand and 
surrender of fugitive servants, slaves, or criminals ; but all 
acts of the commissionei-s required ratification by the peo- 
ple. In case of war, a certain number of troops was to be 
furnished by the different members of the league. Massa- 
chusetts, furnishing a double proportion, obtained the honor 



ino PART II. ir,;;s i7r„s. 

of liavinjj^ the coniinissioncrs' aiimiiil scs-ion lidd twit^^s 
often at Hoston as at any oIIkt |)lac(' of nicrtinir. lni,\, 
^Massachusetts was th(.'. head ami front uf tin- whole u- 
iV'deraey. 

Tiie sjiirit of tlw league soon came out. INisa- 
inontof ^^tts, (then inclu<ling New Hampshire,) Plymth, 
Khodo m^(| t]i(. ^y^-fj Connecticut colonies, bein^ ui^d, 

Island. 1 ■» c • 1 T»i 1 T 1 1 ■!» 

there remanied Mame and Kliode Island. JNlne 
was too scantily settled, as well as too remotely situate to 
be taken into account; but Rhode Island, begirt byhe 
confederates, had some claims to consideration. Atall 
events, it a.<ked admission to the union. The demand/as 
refused, except on condition that the colony would sulnit 
itself as a deix'udent to Plymouth. One cannot but woiler 
that, with such a temper, the league refrained from blot.iig 
its independent neighbor out of existence. 
Disa'Too- Things went by no means smoothly amongst »e 
uieiits. confederates themselves. At one time, Connecti-ut 
imposed a tax on river navigation, which acted adversely to 
the interests of the town of Springfield, (1647.) Massac'ui- 
setts, at first remonstrating, soon broke out w'itli an im})tst 
upon goods imported from the other three colonies of the 
league, (1049.) Nor was this repealed until after a grav 
]m)test from the commissioners, (1050.) A year or t 
later, Connecticut desired war to be declared again-t t.. 
Dutch and Indians. Perhaps it was a hasty project ; but it 
found support from Plymouth. Massachusetts, however, 
refueed to enter into it, and by so doing, nearly broke np the 
confederacy, (1053.) When the confederates agreed, it was 
often about such measures as those of persecution, to whidi 
reference has been made, or those of warfare, to which 
"vve shall arrive ere long. In fact, the United Colonics 
were united chiefly in deeds of violence. In works of jus- 
tice or of generosity, they generally broke asunder. When 



COLONIAT, RELATIONS. 101 

their union came to an enrl, after a feeble existence of half 
a century, it was regretted by none. 

The New Enpjhind colonies were not alone in 

Dissen- '^ . 

siong else- these disturbed relations. New lork was long at 
^^^^'^' variance with Connecticut on one side, and with 
New Jersey on the other. Pennsylvania had her com- 
plaints against Virginia; Delaware hers against Pennsyl- 
vania. Wherever there was a view from one colony to 
another, it seemed to open as frequently upon scenes of 
controversy as upon those of peace. 

Leavinof the colonies themselves, and turning to 

Peun and '=' ^. 

Baiti- their proprietors, where they had any, we discover 
™°^^" the same disposition to strife. When William Penn 
obtained the grant of his domain of Pennsylvania, he knew 
that it encroached upon the claims of the Baltimore family 
of Maryland. Their title to the territory, as far north as 
the fortieth degree of latitude, had been infringed upon, but 
by foreigners — by the Dutch and by the Swedes. It was 
reserved for a fellow-countryman to appropriate it to him- 
self. Soon after the arrival of Penn in America, he met 
Lord Baltimore at Newcastle, but without being able to 
come to any agreement. This did not prevent the QitUker 
from founding his City of Brotherly Love upon the land 
claimed by the rival proprietor, (1G82.) At another meet- 
ing, in the following year, Penn consented to recognize the 
Baltimore claim, but only on condition that a price should 
be fixed for a portion bordering upon the Delaware, of 
which he naturally wished to retain the sovereignty. But 
as this offer was refused, while another mode of settlement, 
proposed by Baltimore, was refused in turn by Penn, the 
two proprietors again separated in anger. When Balti- 
more renewed his demands, a few months after, Penn threw 
himself'upon the Dutch title, to which he claimed succes- 
sion through the Duke of York, (1 683.) After such a plea 
9* 



102 PAirr II. 103^-1703. 

as this, thoro was no lio])!' of justico from Ponn. Apponl 
•\viis mjulc to Kniz:l:iii(l, wliciv sciitciict! was rciulcred agaiii>t 
lialiimoiM', wiiliout Ix'ing actually executwl, (1G85.) It 
was tliicc ([iiartcrs of a century before tlie boundary be- 
tween Pennsylvania and INlaryland was definitely deter- 
mined. 

The relations of tJi(4 colonies to the motlier coun- 
tuthf ^'T' ^"''^ ^^' ^^^ KuLjiand, so lar as they depended 
motlior upon u'eneral j)i-incii)l('s, were broiiiilit forward in an 
country. ' ,. , , i • • i i 

earlier })art ot the chapter. It is tiiiKi to take them 
up witli reference to the actual course of events. 
1\^^, AllcLriaiice to the crown was one of the inborn 

cn.Nvn. pi-iiiciplrs of the English colonist. It extended from 
him to those who had come from other lands than England. 
The King of England was the head of the church and the 
head of the state — the supreme civil and mihtary power, to 
whom all the magistrates, all the tribunals, all the laws, all 
the proceedings of the colonies, were subject. P^ven in tlu^. 
charter governments, the most independent of all, the royal 
suprcMiiacy Avas universally recognized. At the same time, 
the exact limits between the sovereignty of the king and 
the independcMice of the colony were nowhere defined. In 
the royal provinces, where the dependence upon the crown 
was the greatest, the rights of the pojjular bodies were often 
most pertinaciously asserted. 

As striking an exiiibition as any other of the rela- 
II. aud tJons of the colonies with royalty is to be found in 
Massa- tlie tweiity-five years' controversy between Charles 

II. and Massachusetts. When the restoration of 
tliat monarch occurred, nearly a year was allowed to elapse, 
alter the certain intcdligence of the event, without any ])roc- 
laiiiation of the royal authority in INIassachu^etts. There 
was a gooil deal, in fact, for the colony to do, in order to 
make the proclamation -ati-hutory to all concerned. In the 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. 103 

m . 

fir.st place, she liad to renounce all such theories as John 
Ehot had propounded in his Christian Commonwealth, con- 
cerning the superiority of the Mosaic over the English insti- 
tutions. In the next place, she had "to reject, as an in- 
fringement of right, any parliamentary or royal imposition 
p^-ejudicial to the country." So that, between her own 
republicans on the one side, and the monarchists of England 
on the other, there was some difficulty in steering a course. 
At length, the king being proclaimed, John Norton and 
Simon Bradstreet were sent as agents, with letters and 
instructions half servile and half defiant, to seek the royal 
presence and obtain a confirmation of the colonial institu- 
tions, (1662.) The king confirmed the charter, but added 
requisitions that were likely to set the whole colony in an 
uproar. All laws, he said, against the royal authority, must 
be repealed ; the oath of allegiance to the crown must be 
exacted ; the Book of Common Prayer must be tolerated, 
and the sacraments administered to " all of honest lives ; " 
nay, the freeholders of the colony, if of suitable estate and 
character, must be admitted as its freemen. Such was the 
spite of Massachusetts men, in relation to the royal demands, 
even against their own helpless agents, that the minister 
Norton sank, it is said, under the general displeasure, 
(1663.) The arrival of four royal commissioners, in the fol- 
lowing year, was followed by a celebration of the church ser- 
vice, and by a law from the assembly, declaring freeholders, 
on certain conditions, to be freemen, (1664.) The next 
proceedings of the commissioners resulted in the temporary 
toleration of churchmen and Quakers, (1665.) It must 
have seemed as if the very foundations of Massachusetts 
had been thrown down. 

Long years of controversy between the colony and the 
king ensued. The departure of the commissioners was fol- 
lowed by the almost immediate arrest of the changes 



104 PART II. 1638-1 7G3. 

^ ^^ which thoy had introduced. A summons from the 
the Mas- king, calling ni»on the colony to send rei)re.senta- 
sett's"and *^^^'^ ^^ unswcr the charges against it, was diso- 
othor beyed, (IGGC.) Yet five years were allowed to 
elapse before the contumacy of the Massachusetts 
people was noticed, and then they were virtually passed 
over as "almost on the brink of renouncing any de^ 
pendence on the crown," (1671.) Quite a considerable 
interval succeeded, in which agents after agents ui)held the 
colony against its adversaries in England. Even bribes 
were resorted to, the Province of ]\laine and two thousand 
guineas being offered to the king himself. But it was too 
late. The royal will was roused ; the warrant went forth 
that the colony must submit, if it would have any charter 
at all. The magistrates were for yielding; the representa- 
tives — that is, the mass of the colonists — were for resist- 
ing ; and while they clung to their charter, it was declared 
to be forfeited, (1684.) The king immediately api)ointed a 
governor for Massachusetts, Plymouth, Maine, and New 
Hampshire ; but Charles dying, another official was sent 
out by James II., bearing the title of president of the same 
colonics, with the addition of the King's Province in Rhode 
Island, (1685.) The same year, the Rhode Island and 
Connecticut charters were put in abeyance. 
Pariia- Ncxt to the crown was the Parliament of the 

nieut. mother country. But this was by no means so 
fully acknowledged in the colonies. "We have not ad- 
mitted appeals to your authority," says the Massachusetts 
General Court to Parliament, " being assured they cannot 
stand with the liberty and power granted us by our char- 
ter," (1646,) — a declaration which was followed up by 
Edward Winslow, then the agent for INIassaehusetts in 
England. "If the Parliament of England," he says, 
" should impose laws upon us, having no burgesses in the 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. 105 

House of Commons nor capable of a summons by reason of 
the vast distance, we should lose the liberties and freedom 
of Englishmen indeed." It was on these very grounds 
that the sway claimed for Pari^ent was again and again 
resisted. It was, however, agaiRnd again obeyed. 
j^^,.i„3. Parliament asserted its poAvers at an early day. 
tion acts. During the commonwealth, when it ruled supreme 
over England? it stretched forth its sceptre over America 
by an act requiring all colonial exports to England to be 
shipped only in American or English vessels, (1651.) 
This was extended by Parliament and the crown together, 
' after the restoration of royalty, in a second act, ordering 
that most of the exports from the colonies should be shipped 
only to England, or to an English colony, and in American 
or English vessels, as before, (1660.) Two or three years 
afterwards, it was enacted that almost all imports into the 
colonies should be shipped only from England or from an 
English colony, and in American or English vessels, as by 
the" preceding statutes, (1663.) These were the famous 
navigation acts, the first assertions of parliamentary au- 
thority over the commerce of the colonies. How grievous 
to these such restrictions were needs not to be dwelt upon. 
They were followed up, at no long interval, by 

Duties. *' r- J. ' a 

duties upon the export and nnport ot certam enu- 
merated articles " from one colony to another, (1 672.) This 
was interfering, not only with the trade, but with the very 
constitution of the colonies. It required a new body of of- 
ficials in the shape of revenue officers, appointed, of course, 
by the crown. Royal custom houses were also needed. It 
was soon proposed to demand an oath from the governors 
of New England — where trade was busiest, and discontent 

rifest that they Avould enforce the commercial restrictions. 

But John Leverett, governor of Massachusetts, refused, 
and the General Court of the same colony soon passed a 



lOG PART II. 1638-1763. 

resolution '' that the acts of navigation are an invasion of 
the rights and privileges of the subjects of his majesty in 
this colony, they not bemg represented in the Parliament," 
(1G7G-79.) A notice o^^ie appointment of a collector 
of tlie royal customs for^^w Enghmd was torn down in 
Boston by order of the colonial magistrates, (1G80.) But 
it was in vain, as we shall 'soon find. Parliament luid 
adoi)ted the i)rinci})le of regulating tlie colonial trade, and 
was not likely to yield to the ebullitions of Boston, or of 
any other place in the colonies. 

P^^ .^j The authority of the mother country, whether 

govern- royul or parliamentary, was represented by a con- 
stantly increasing number of officials in the colonies. 
Of these none were so prominent as the royal goveraors, 
to whom we now arrive in pui-suing the account of the 
colonial relations. 

Berkeie Nowlicre did things go worse than in Virginia, 
in vif- of which Sir AVilliam Berkeley, a loyal cavalier, 
^'"'^" had been governor for more than twenty years.* 
Under Ids influence, the very assembly of the province became 
a burden, protracting its sessions and extending its preroga- 
tives, providing a perpetual (so termed) instead of an annual 
revenue for the royal officials, and appointing county courts 
to levy certain imposts which were within its own province 
alone. To these difficulties were added others arising from 
the hostile bearing of the Indians, with whom the governor 
was disposed to temporize far more than suited the ardent 
Virginians, (1G7G.) 

Bacon's ^H ^t oncc, tlic province rose. One of the coun- 
rebeiiion. ^jj]^ Nathaniel Bacon, being refused a commission 
against the Indians, declared tliat he would take out a com- 
mission of his own; at which the governor unseated hun 

* From 1641 to 1652, and again from 1660, 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. 107 

and declared him a rebel. But lie was not the only one to 
be put down. William Drummond, the first governor of 
North Carolina, and Richard Lawrence, both men of ener- 
gy and of culture, came out at Jamestown on Bacon's side. 
At their demand, supported by other colonists of influence, 
the assembly by which the governor had been blindly sup- 
ported was dissolved. Bacon, elected to a new assembly, 
carried various measures of reform, besides obtaining a 
commission of commanding officer against the Indians. 
Again declared a rebel, he called a convention, who prom- 
ised to stand by him while he proceeded against the foe 
upon the frontier. But on the governor's taking the field 
with armed servants and Indians, supported by some Eng- 
lish men-of-war. Bacon and his party returned to meet 
him. Berkeley retreated, Bacon fired Jamestown, and 
soon after died. The cause which he had staked his all to 
support soon fell to pieces, and his chief adherents, Drum- 
mond amongst them, were hanged. Lawrence disappeared. 
" That old fool," said the good natured Charles II., on hear- 
ing of his governor's revenge, " has hanged more men in 
that naked colony than I did here for the murder of my 
fill her." Berkeley died of shame, it is said, in England. 
He left Virginia crushed and desolate. 

Audros ^tiw England, consolidated into one province, 
in New was given over to Sir Edmund Andros, formerly 
^^^^ ' governor of New York, (1686.) He made his ap- 
pearance with troops, overthrowing the colonial assemblies, 
if there were any left to overthrow, declaring the town 
organizations at an end, prohibiting the printing press, and 
threatening even the property of the colonists by requiring 
them to take out new deeds of their estates from him. It 
was a part of his commission to procure toleration, especial- 
ly for the church of England. To do this in Boston, he 
saw fit to vseize upon one of the Puritan churches to celebrate 



1()8 TART 11. 1G3S-17G3. 

tlic c'liuicli service. l\c>i>taiicc was not attempted, and An- 
dros and liis council ruled supreme; nor only over New 
Enp^land, but likewise over New York and New Jersey, 
both of which were attached to his government, (1G^8.) 
In fact, he was on the high road to dominion over all the 
colonies. The charters of the Carolinas and of INIaryland 
— that is, of every other colony which had a charter, 
save Pennsylvania alone — were menaced, (1686-88.) 
A waste of despotism seemed to be t)pening wherever 
freedom had found a foothold. 

Kivoin- Just then came the news of the revolution in 
tiou. England, (1680.) It was welcomed by a revolu- 
tion in America. Boston rose agahist Andros, deposing 
him, and declaring Simon Bradstreet governor. The 
reaction was by no means gentle. The churchmen, whom 
Andros had favored, and who supported him, sent an 
address to King AVilliam, bewailing the peril to them from 
the returning " anarchy and confusion of government under 
which this country hath so long groaned." Kliode Island 
and Connecticut went farther than Massachusetts, and 
resumed their treasured charters. New York took up 
arms under Jacob Leisler and a committee of safety. 
The other colonies, less sorely oppressed than those of 
New England and New Y'ork, received the news in com- 
parative tranquillity. A party in Maryland rose, but not 
against op})ression so much as for the sake of sedition. 
The proprietary government fell, as has been told. 
B„t not It soon appeared, however, that the English 
liiHity. revolution was not intended to be interpreted as 
setting the colonies free. The charter of 1691 proved it 
in Massachusetts. The execution of Jacob Leisler and 
Ills son-in-law, INIilbonrne, in New York, by orders, how- 
ever, of the new governor. Colonel Sloughter, rather than 
by those of the king, was e([ually conclusive, (1691.) 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. 109 

The appointment of Andros — the same Sir Edmund who 
had trampled upon both Massachusetts and New York — - 
to the government of Virginia* was a still more stunning 
demonstration, (1692.) 

A new attempt at colonial consolidation soon 
in New occurred. Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, a man of 
far less character than Andros, was made gov- 
ernor of New York and Pennsylvania, including Dela- 
ware ; the proprietary government in the latter colonies 
being then suspended, (1692.) He was also declared 
commander-in-chief of the Connecticut and the New Jer- 
sey militia. Soon after taking possession of New York 
and Pennsylvania, Fletcher proceeded to Connecticut to 
take command of the militia. They assembled at his 
orders ; but instead of listening to his commission, the 
senior officer, Captain Wadsworth, cried, " Beat the 
drums ! " On Fletcher's attempting to persevere, Wads- 
worth exclaimed, "If I am interrupted again, I'll make 
the sun shine through you in a moment," (1693.) Thus 
baffled in his military functions, the governor returned to 
his civil powers in New York and Pennsylvania. The 
latter province, after resisting his demands for a grant of 
money, yielded only on condition that it should be dis- 
bursed by the provincial treasurer — a condition which 
Fletcher would not, and, if obedient to his instructions, 
could not allow, (1694.) New York itself was restive 
under Ins control. A tax for the support of ministers 
and the erection of churches had led to a debate between 
the council and the assembly, the council proposing that the 
governor should nominate the new clergy, but the assembly 
opposing. "You take it upon you," declared Fletcher to 
the assembly, "as if you were dictatprs;" but the assem- 

* He proved, however, to be a comparatively good governor there. 

10 



110 PART II. 1638-1763. 

bly stood fast, and soon carried tlicir point, " tliat tlie 
vestry and the churchwardens have a power to call their 
own minister," a dissenter, if so they pleased, although 
the governor was strong for the church of England, 
(1()0.').) It had been proposed by a clergyman of this 
church to combine New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, 
and Rhode Island in a single province, with a bishop, 
resichng at New York, for its civil as well as ecclesiastical 
head. But this, more naturally even than Governor 
Fletcher's designs, came to nought. Fletcher himself, 
falling into disgrace at home, was recalled, leaving his 
attempts at consolidation an utter failure, (IG98.) 

The troubles implied m the various colonial rela- 

General '■ 

strict- tions account for much that has been ascribed to 
other causes. It has been so common to consider 
the Puritan severity as a thing apart, that one does not 
immediately seize upon the fact of the almost universal 
strictness that prevailed. Virginia, for instance, gave no 
harbor to Puritanism. Y'et the Virginia code thunders 
against "mercenary attorneys," (lG-43,) burgesses "dis- 
guised with over much drink," (1G59,) tippling houses, 
(1()7G,) and Sunday travelling, (1G92.) Maryland de- 
clares with as much solemnity as Massachusetts against 
profanity, (1042.) Nor were precautions of a difterent 
nature neglected. Both Maryland (1G42-1715) and New 
Y'ork (1GG5) make it necessary to procure a passport be- 
fore traversing or leaving the colonial precincts. It was 
from a similar impulse that the " handicraftsmen " of Bos- 
ton petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts to be 
protected against " strangers from all parts " who were 
interfering with their trade, not to say their influence in 
the community, (1G77.) All over the colonies, there 
reigned a spirit of watchfulness, perhaps more gi'im, but 
certainly not more resolute, in one place than in another. 



COLONIAL RELATIONS. HI 

It might be increased or diminished by the social or the 
religious temper of the colonists ; the New Englander was 
likely to be more upon his guard than the Virginian. But 
the spirit was the common growth of the new country, 
whose depths were still hid in the wilderness, whose borders 
were still bristling with the arrow or the steel. 
Perils" of '^^^ pcrils of the frontier are yet to be described. 
the fron- All arouud the colonists, there extended a line, or 
rather a series of lines, one after another, of sus- 
pected neighbors or of open foes. The Indian lay in 
ambush on this side ; on that, the European, Swede, Dutch- 
man, Spaniard, or Frenchman, stood in threatening attitude. 
Nor was the land alone overspread with enemies ; the waters 
swarmed with pirates and with buccaneers ; nay, the very 
air seemed to be filled with ghostly shapes and with appall- 
ing sounds. The world of spirits, as the colonists beheved, 
was agitated by the wars amongst the races of Ameiica. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Indian "Wars. 

£,..,. Tt is not always tliat iiistice is done to the spirit 

bl)iiit of ^ .; I 

flu- In- of tilt' Indians. They are pitied when they are not 
vililied. Yet there are few passages in liunian his- 
tory more indicative of native nobleness in man than tliose 
whieh bring before us the trustful and the generous dealings 
of the red men with the early adventurers to their shores. 
" Welcome, Englishmen," cried the sagamore Samoset to 
the Plymouth settlers, in words canght from English fisher- 
men. The greater sachem Massasoit pledged his friendslii)) 
to the same colony by a formal treaty, (1G21.) When the 
tribe of Powhatan complained of the strangers in Virginia, 
their chief replied, " They do but take a little waste land." 
Even when the anger of Powhatan was kindled, and so 
strongly as to lead him to plan the destruction of the 
English, beginning with their leader, John Smith, whom he 
liad taken captive, there was still the maiden Pocahontas 
to plead for mercy and for peace, (1G07.) 
g .^..^^j. The spirit of the English was generally very dif- 
the Eng- ferent. Their wrath was ever easy to be inflamed, 
ever difficult to be quenched. To most of them the 
natives were outcasts, " of the cursed race of Ham," fit 
to be deluded, insnared, enslaved, or exterminated. But 
this was not the spirit of all. There were some to be 
touched by the original confidence of the Indians, some to 
repay it by trust and by charity. " Concerning the killing 

(112) 



INDIAN WARS. 113 

of those poor Indians," wrote John Robinson, the Puritan 
minister, from Holhmd to his brethren at Plymouth, in 
relation to the slaughter of several natives suspected of 
conspiring against that settlement — " O, how happy a thing 
had it been, if you had converted some, before you had 
killed any. Besides, where blood is once begun to be shed, 
it is seldom stanched of a long time after. ... It is 
also a thing more glorious in men's eyes than pleasing in 
God's, or convenient for Christians, to be a terror to poor 
barbarous people," (1G23.) 

It was the idea of King James of England, in 

Mission- '^ . . . , 

ary la- issuing the patent of Virginia, to civilize and con- 
^'^' vert the natives of the country which he was giving 
to his companies. The London Company, accordingly, in 
conjunction with individuals both in England and in Amer- 
ica, made some exertion to carry out the royal design. A 
school for natives was planned, as has been mentioned, 
but without being established. The colony of Plymouth, 
listening to Robinson's appeal, recognized the possibility of 
brotherhood with the Indians. Laws were formally enact- 
ed to provide for the conversion of the natives to the Chris- 
tian faith, (1636.) Elsewhere, likewise, the same views 
found advocates ; and more than one colonist became the 
friend, the teacher, nay, the martyr to the Indians. 
^^ ,, Obtaining an English gi-ant of Martha's Vine- 

The May- ° c o 

hewgand yard, and then confirming his title by purchase 
^^"^*' from the natives, Thomas Mayhew began almost 
immediately to teach those who remained with him upon 
the island, (1643.) A more active missionary, however, 
was his son Thomas, who, after ten years' exertions, 
perished on a voyage to England, whither he was going for 
aid to his mission, (1657.) His father, and afterwards his 
son, continued the work to which he had sacrifiwid himself. 
Meanwhile John Eliot had begun his labors on the Massa- 
10* 



114 PART II. 1G38-17G3. 

chusetts mainland. Preparing!: himself by the study of the 
Indian ton^juc, of which he afterwards composed a gram- 
mar, he met a party of Indians, for the first time as their 
preacher, at Nonantuni. " Upon October 28, 164G," lie 
writes with touching simplicity, " four of us (having sought 
God) went unto the Indians inhabiting our bounds, with 
desire to make known the things of their peace to them." 
Thenceforward Eliot went on fonnding and rearing Indian 
churches, now travelling from the Merrimac to Cape Cod, 
and now laboring at the translation of the Catechism, and 
even of the Bible, into the language of his converts, 
(1G61-G3.) 

Both Eliot and the Mayhews, as well as other 
missionaries to the Indians, received their chief 
encouragement from a Society " for Promoting and Propa- 
gating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England," incor- 
porated by act of Parliament, (1049.) Large collections 
aided the labors and provided for the ex})enses of those 
who engaged in the holy enterprise. " Right honorable 
nursing fathers," is the address which Ehot uses in giving 
the society an account of his labors. He writes to Robert 
Boyle, apparently the life and soul of the society, as his 
" right honorable, right charitable, and indefatigable nurs- 
ing father." New England itself did comparatively little. 
Massachusetts granted lands to the converted Indians, but 
without much sym})athy with them or with their teachers. 
The work, as a colonial one, languished. 

The results were therefore iaconsiderable. "WHiat 

Rt'sults. ^ 

the Indians, or many of them, thought of the mis- 
sions may be gathered from the answer of a Narraganset 
sachem to the missionary INIayhew applying for permission 
to ])reach among the tril^e. " Go make the English good 
iir.-t." AVhat many of the English thought (>f the missions 
may be gathered from the declaration of Daniel Gookin, 



INDIAN WARS. 115 

superintendent of the converts, — "a pillar," says Eliot, 
" in our Indian work," — that he was " afraid to be seen 
in the streets," at the time of much ill will against the 
natives. Thirty years after the missionary enterprise be- 
gan, there were nominally upwards of three thousand 
converts, (1673.) But the first church which Eliot found- 
ed — that at Natick — was, a few years subsequent to his 
death, but " a small church of seven men and three 
women; their pastor, Daniel Tohkohwampait," (1698.) 
Even before Eliot departed, he had seen his work declin- 
ing. Endeavoring to get out a new edition of his version 
of the Scriptures, he wrote, " I am deep in years, and 
sundry say, if I do not procure it printed while I live, it 
is not within the prospect of human reason whether ever, 
or when, or how it may be accomplished." Things must 
have been low indeed, when the mere reprint of the Bible 
was so difficult. But "his charity," to use Eliot's death- 
bed words, " held out still," and all that he could do was 
done when he died, (1690.) 

Wars in The wars with the Indians were more effective. 
Virginia Earliest of these was the war of Opechancanough, 
Mary. Powhatan's successor, against the colony of Vir- 
land. ginia. Provoked by the murder of one of their 
warriors, the Indians suddenly fell upon the English settle- 
ments, which, it seems, they would have utterly annihilated, 
but for the warning given by a converted countryman of 
theirs to a Jamestown settler, (1622.) Hostilities, con- 
tinued at intervals for many years, were revived by a 
second surprise of the colony by the Indians, (1642.) 
Opechancanough being taken prisoner and slain, his con- 
federates made peace, giving up all the land between the 
York and James Rivers, (1646.) In this latter war, Mary- 
land had been involved. Thirty years later, the two colo- 
nies were again united in repelling the Susquehannas, with 
some other tribes, (1675-77.) 



116 PART II. 1G.S8-1763. 

roqnot ISroanwliilc, more flMnir<'V(>iis conflicts; had arisen 

^'■"- in New Knolaiul. Tlic lirst actual war with the 

Indians there occurred in con.^ecinence ot some nuirders by 
the Pequots and the Narragansets ; the hitter tribe extend- 
ing along the western sliore of Narraganset l>ay, the for- 
mer stretching from the Thames to the Coiuiecticut Kivers. 
The Narraganset chief, Canonicus, making amends for his 
followers, the expedition which Massachusetts equij)i)ed to 
avenge the murdered was directed chiefly against the 
Pequots, with the result, however, of exciting rather than 
punishing them, (1(530.) They were on the point of per- 
suading the Nari-agansets to make common cause with 
them, when Roger Williams, at the peril of his life, sought 
the wigwam of Canonicus, in order to avert an alliance 
which would have threatened JNIassachusetts, not to say 
New England, with desolation. It was the return which 
the exile made for the persecution from which he had but 
just escaped. Instead of joining the Pequots, the Narra- 
gansets sent their young sachem Miantonimoh to make 
friends with the people at Boston. At about the same 
time, the alliance of the Mohegans, a tribe of North(,'rn 
Connecticut, under Uncas, was secured by the Connecticut 
colonists. As the spring opened, the colonial forces, 
amounting in all to little more than one hundred, with 
two or three hundred Indian allies, took the field, and in 
four months swept the unhappy Pequots from the face of 
the earth. Nearly a thousand of them were slain ; the 
rest, whether men or women, old or young, being reduc<'d 
to captivity and slavery. Their territory was divided 
b(;tween Massachusetts and Connecticut, (1637.) 
Xarra- Notwithstanding the alliance with Miantonimoh 

pansrts. ^^^(\ t]^(3 Narragauscts, they were soon treated as 
foes. Defeated by the Mohegans, with whom they w^ent to 
war, the Narragansets saw their chieflain a prisoner. lie 



INDIAN WARS. 117 

was saved by the interposition of his friend Gorton, the 
founder of Warwick, only to be given up again by the 
commissioners of the United Colonies to the Mohegan 
Uncas, by whom he was immediately despatched. To 
shield Uncas from the revenge of the Narragansets, the 
colonies furnished him with a body guard, and even took 
up arms, when Pessacus, the brother and successor of 
Miantonimoh, began war against his Mohegan enemies. 
Nor did Pessacus avert the storm thus conjured up, but 
by submitting to make amends to both the Mohegans and 
the United Colonies, (1645.) The tribute which he then 
consented to pay was afterwards wrenched from him by 
violence, (1650.) 

King -A. quarter of a century later, and the ill-treated 

Philip, tribe of Miantonimoh and Pessacus were drawn 
into the great war that goes by the name of King Philip's. 
He was Pometacum, the nephew and successor of Massa- 
soit, with whom the Plymouth colonists had made an early 
treaty, the chief of the Pokanokets or Wampanoags, a 
tribe on the eastern shore of Narraganset Bay. Suspected 
and assailed by the people of Plymouth, whose authorities 
claimed jurisdiction over him, Philip (to call him by Iiis 
familiar name) was at length accused of hatching a gener- 
al conspiracy amongst the Indians. The accuser, a native 
of bad character, although professedly converted, was slain 
by some of Philip's men, three of whom were presently 
hanged, without any actual proof of their being the mur- 
derers, by orders of the court at Plymouth. Philip wept, it 
is said, at the idea of warfare with the English. But he 
could not keep peace with them ; and so began a war, by 
far the most deadly of all between the English and the 
Indians, (1675.) 

Driven almost immediately from his domains about 
Mount Hope, and soon afterwards from his retreats in 



118 PART II. 10:58-176.3. 

the Rhode Ishmd swamps;, Philip led his few war- 

YTar 

thronpii- Tior^ into the heart of Ma.-^sachu. setts, where the In- 
cut New (]imi^ iij^ii already risen in arms. Thence the circle 

Eiiylaud. 

of hostilities spread on all sides, to the tribes of the 
Connecticut valley in the west, to those of the Merrimac 
valley in the east, and farther still, to the Abenakis of 
Maine — the latter, however, bein<^ engaged in warfare of 
their own, unconnected with Philip and his allies. Against 
these was arrayed the whole of New England. Rhode 
Island, it is true, rather suffered than fought ; nor were 
Maine and New IIami)shire, then the dependencies of Mas- 
sachusetts, able to take any active part. But the United 
Colonies were all in arms. A few hundred combatants 
were the most that could be mustered in any single battle ; 
yet the strife was more than proportioned to the numbers or 
the resources on either side. JMonth after month witnessed 
scenes of ambush, assault, devastation, and butchery. The 
work of blood was as savagely done by the English as by 
the Indians. 

As winter drew nigh, the suspicions of the colo- 
tiou ofthc "^^'^ were excited by Uncas, the Mohegan, against 
Narragan- his old focs, the Narragauscts. They had given 

pledges of j)eace at the beginning of the war ; nor 
were there now any signs of hostility on their part, except 
the shelter which they were charged with giving to the 
broken Pokanokets. But the commissioners of the United 
Colonies, the successors of those who had given up Mian- 
ton imoh and humbled Pessacus, declared war against the 
Narragansets and their chief, Canonchet. It took but a 
few days to overrun the Narraganset territory, and to de- 
feat the tril)e in a fearful fight which cost the colonial forces 
dear. Driven from their forests and their fi\stnesses, the 
Narragansets spread over the adjoining lands, and even as 
far as witlim ei']rhteen miles of Boston. " "We will die to 



INDIAN WARS. 119 

the last man," e?:claimed Canonchet, when taken in the 
spring, " but not be slaves to the Englishman.'' He was 
slain, and his nation laid low forever. 

The fall of the Narragansets was accompanied by 

that of the tribes within the limits of Massachusetts. 
Most of the survivors turned their backs upon their ancient 
hunting grounds in search of freedom in the north and west. 
Philip, who had mourned over the beginning of the war, 
was too strong in heart to outlive its close. He sought the 
home of his fathers, and there, after losing his wife, his 
child, and most of his few remaining warriors, he was shot 
by a renegade Pokanoket. His boy, the last of his line, 
was sold into slavery in Bermuda. His race was given 
over to the executioner and the slave dealer ; his territory 
went to Plymouth, and, half a century afterwards, to Rhode 
Island. But it was no bloodless victory that the colonies 
had won, " The towns are so drained of men," wrote Lev- 
erett, governor of Massachusetts, in the thick of the contest, 
" we are not able to send out any more." Six hundred of 
the best colonists had perished ; ten times that number, and 
more, had suffered from the losses and the agonies which 
befall even the survivors of a war. Six hundred dwellinjrs 
were burned ; many a town was partially, many a one totally 
destroyed. The mere expenses of the war amounted to some- 
thing enormous in comparison Avith the actual means of the 
colonies. It is pleasant to meet with the record of a contri- 
bution of five hundred pounds, collected by an elder brother 
of Increase Mather, a Puritan minister in Dublin. The 
war had lasted a little more than a year, (1676.) 

There still remained a few Indian war parties to 

deal with in the Connecticut valley, as well as the 
Abenaki tribes in Maine. The former were soon driven 
off; but the latter kept to their arms until peace was liter- 
ally bought of them by Sir Edmund Andros, the governor 



120 TART II. 1G38-1703. 

of New York, to wliicli ])n)viiu'(", it m.'iy bo remembered, 
the eastern part of Maine then belonged, (1G7(S.) 
AbeiiakU '^^^^ Abenakis were soon in arms again. Enlisted 
in ariMs. y,^ ([^^, ^■^^l^, ^f ^\^^. p^rench in the wars to be related 
by and by, the eastern tribes repeatedly laid waste the 
English settlements. A quarter of a eentury (l(58D-17i;{) 
did not still the passions thus exeited. At a time of peace 
between England and Ei-anee, the eolonists of the forniff 
nation attacked the allies, nay, the very missionaries of the 
latter. Sebastian Kasles, the patriarch of a Norridgewoek 
village on the Kennebec, wliei*e he dwelt alone amidst his 
savage converts, became the object of especial jealousy to 
the government of Massachusetts. An aimed expedition 
failed in making him captive, (1722.) But a renewed 
assault was more successful, the venerable priest being 
slain, his chapel sacked, his village destroyed, (1724.) All 
the tribes of the east entered into the war. The only ally 
of Massachusetts was Connecticut; the etforts to obtain 
support from the Mohawks being answered by the ad^'ice 
that Massachusetts should do justice to her foes, (1722.) 
Peace was made, after a five years' conflict. It was broken 
more than once in the later French wars, (1744, 1754.) 
But the Abenakis submitted at last, (1760.) 

The central and southern colonies were for many 
thactu" years undisturbed by Indian wars. Treaties with 
tiu and the Five Nations — the more easily made and kept 

south. , „ . 1, . • 1 1 

as these trjbes were contmually at enmity with the 
French of Canada — protected the frontiers of the colonies 
of the centre. Those of the south, for some time unassailed, 
were at length overrun. 
-,, . North Carolina, after frequent acr";ressions on the 

V ar 111 ' * ^'^ 

North . part of her settlers, was swept by the Tuscaroras, 
Caronna.^j^jj ,^ The aid of South Carolina, with that of 
her Indian allies, wjis called in, before peace could be re- 



INDIAN WAllS. 121 

Stored, even for a brief period. Soon breaking out again, in 
consequence of the continued injuries inflicted upon the 
Indians, the war grew so threatening as to require the inter- 
position of Virginia as well as of South Carolina. The 
three colonies together forced the Tuscaroras to fly to their 
kindred, the Fire Nations of New York, by whom, as was 
formerly mentioned, they were received as a sixth tribe of 
the confederacy, (1713.) 

In South South Carolma, some time before involved in strife 
Carolina. ^j|.jj ^|-^g Indian aUies of the Spaniards in Florida, 
was presently tlu-eatened with a more serious war. The 
tribes of the south, especially the Yamassees, aggrieved by 
the treatment which they received from the colonists, dashed 
upon their plantations, and, with revenge and slaughter, 
pressed northward towards Charleston. So great was the 
peril, that the governor armed the slaves of the province, 
besides obtaining a law from the assembly authorizing the 
conscription of freemen. These means, backed by the re- 
sources of North Carolina and Virginia, averted the ruin 
that appeared to be approaching. The Yamassees, driven 
back with their confederates, were forced to seek refuge in 
Florida, (1715.) 

^^.^j^ Nearly half a century elapsed before the Indians 

Chero- took up the hatclict in the south. The Cherokees, 
invaded first by the forces of the Carohnas and Vir- 
ginia, and then by the royal troops, at that time carrying on 
the last French war, i^etorted with sword and fire, (1759-60.) 
But the Enghsh and the colonial soldiery together proved 
too much for the Cherokees, who were-^soon reduced to 
humiliating terms of peace, (1761.) 
,„ . Meantime, the western settlements had be^un to 

With ' ^ 

western bear the brunt of Indian warfare. Pennsylvania 
tribes, ^^g attacked, just as the final contest with the 
French began, (1755,) by the Delawares and Shawanoes, 
11 



122 PART II. loaii-nG^. 

tliL' former of wliom liiul been infamously driven from their 
land by the Pennsylvaniiins, or their proprietors, many 
years before. Other tribes, joining with these, spreiwi 
havoc along all the western borders of the colonies, until 
peace was conquered, (1758.) 

PontKic'8 The P'rench wjir over, (17G3,) the same tribes, 
war. y^.\[\^ others of varied name and race, united under 
the great Ottawa chieitain, Tontiac, in one simultaneous 
attempt to clear the western country of the Engli.sh inva- 
ders. Such an onslaught, occurring at an earlier period, 
miglit have driven the English, not only from the west but 
from the east. But made against them when they had just 
prevailed against the hosts of France, the attacks of the 
Indians, though at first successful, were met and decisively 
subdued, (1764.) * 
- ,. Some sad and strange events, in connection with 

Indians " ' 

in Pena- the war tlius closed, must be; mentioned, for the sake 
sy \ania. ^j- ^j^^^ illustration whlcli they offer of the passions so 
long dividing the English and the Indians. A number of 
Pennsylvanians, oi)posed to their own authorities, and ex- 
cited with suspicion and hatred against all of Indian blood, 
made such demonstrations against the Indian converts of 
the Moravian missionaries, for some time at work in Penn- 
sylvania, that the assembly ordered the Indians to be 
removed to Philadelphia. Hardly was this done, when the 
settlersof Paxton, a frontier town, put to death a handful of 
Indians lingering at Conestoga, i)ursuing and slaying some 
who, for safety's sake, had been lodged in the Lancaster 
jail. A Ibrcc orfrom five to fifteen hundred borderers then 
set out on a march against Philadelphia, where they intended 
to seize the Indians transported thither, if not to make 
themselves masters of the city and the province altogether. 

* The cxtrciuc western tribes remained in arms till llOo. 



INDIAN WARS. 123 

They were not without their sympathizers in Philadelphia ; 
but those who were prepared to resist them took so deter- 
mined a course as to avert the dangers of the insurrection. 
The show of force in the city persuaded the borderers to 
retire, (1763-64.) 

The tomahawk was not yet buried in the west or 
wars, but ^^ ^^^ south. Year after year som.e party or some 
the issue tribe of Indians broke loose upon the frontiers. But 

decided. 

the question had long been decided as to the hands 
into which victory was to fall. The scattered tribes, ill 
provided with arms or stores, with discipline or skill, had 
fallen away, from the first, before the concentrated numbers 
and accumulated resources of the colonists. Whatever indi- 
vidual bravery could do, whatever the undying independ- 
ence of any single tribe could achieve, was all in vain, 
before the resistless advance of the English. Nay, not of 
the English alone, but of the Indians themselves, allied with 
the conquerors of their countrymen. But for such as joined 
the stranger, the conquest would have been slower, although 
none the less sure. 

Later The Indian wars form by no means a bright chap- 

missions, ter in our history. But, as we found something to 
light up the early, so we find something to light up the later 
relations of the Indians and the English. The missions, 
begun by the Mayhews and by Eliot, had never been aban- 
doned in Massachusetts. As time passed, and the native 
race grew thinner upon its former soil, new stations were 
taken, to reach the remoter tribes. A mission at Stock- 
bridge, at first in the charge of John Sergeant, afterwards 
obtained no less a superintendent than Jonathan Edwards, 
(1737-50.) A more radiant name is that of David Brain- 
erd, of Connecticut, who, after laboring between Stockbridge 
and Albany, turned southwards to Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey, (1744.) The exertions of a few years so enfeebled 



121 PAllT II. 10;5H-17ftn. 

him that he returned to the Connecticut valley only to die, 
(1747.) His place wits taken in Pennsylvania by Mora- 
vian missionaries, (1748,) whose labors, protracted to a 
nmcli later period, ciune to such sad results as have just been 
described. The missionary would convert the Indians ; the 
colonist would hunt them to death. Alas, that so little was 
wroujjfht by the friend and the teacher, in comparison with 
the vast achievements of the foe and the destroyer ! 



CHAPTER V. 
Dutch Wars. 

^^^g Returning to trace the fortunes of the Dutch 

within- settlement of New Netherland, we immediately 
find it, like its English neighbors, at war with the 
Indians, whom we may call Manhattans of the Algon- 
quin race. Vexed by the traders, oppressed by the officials 
of the colony, the Manhattans had provocation enough 
to take up arms at an early period. But the vicinity of 
their dreaded foes, the Mohawks of the Five Nations, who 
were disposed to be friends with the Dutch, kept them at 
peace until peace was impossible. The incursions of the 
Indians into the Dutch settlements, and the horrid massa- 
cres inflicted by the Dutch in return, were of the same 
nature as the hostilities already described, (1640-43.) A 
temporary truce was instantly broken by a general war, 
spreading from the main land to the islands, and devas- 
tating almost the whole of the colony. But for a company 
of English settlers, just fresh from encounters with the 
Indians, it would have gone hard with New Netherland. 
As it was, the exhaustion of the colony was as great as 
that of its foes, when a treaty terminated the war, (1643-45.) 
Thrice, however, within the next twenty years, the Indians 
rose against the still oppressive Dutchmen, (1655, 1658, 
1663.) 

The increase of New Netherland was arrrested by 
11 * (125) 



126 TAliT II. 1038-1703. 

these repeated war.s. A contempornry (lociiment* 
upoa (1G44) dwells upon tlu' iuNoniblc prosjx'cts of 
NeThor- t^'*^" ^•ul^>"y 'i^tcr tlie fur trade was tlirown open, 
land. (U;.3(S,) as j)revi()usly mentioned. " At which time," 
\ve are told, " the iidiabitants there resident not only spread 
themselves far and wide, but new colonists came tliitlK'r 
from fatherland, and the neip^hboring English, as well from 
Virginia as from New England, removed under us." The 
hopes thus inspired are expressly stat(;d to have been 
blasted by the Indian wars. 

Had the wars never occurred, the colony would 

Inti'inal '' 

restric- liave had no ra[)id progress. In itself it was divided 
tious. ^^ ^vhat may be called castes. The patroons, for 
instance, were an order by themselves, not necessarily hos- 
tile to the authorities or unfriendly to the colonists, yet oft^^n 
proving to be one or both. Then the colony lay at the 
mercy of the company and its director, whose supremacy 
was shared by none but a few officials and councillors. 
The attempts at representation on the part of the more 
substantial colonists, were of no avail. Boards of twelve, 
eight, and nine men were successively established, with the 
director's consent, but without any powder to restrain him or 
to elevate themselves. It was at length resolved by the 
nine men to draw up a statement of their grievances to be 
laid before the government of the mother country. But 
the member charged with j^reparing the document, Adrian 
Van der Donck, was robbed of his papers, thrown into 
prison, and expelled from the board of the nine men as well 
as from the director's council, in which he had a seat, (10 10.) 
Liberated from his imprisonment, Van der Donck set sail 
for Holland, with other representatives of the cause for 
which he had sulfered. His exertions there brought about 

* In O'Callaghan's History of New Nethorland, Appendix E. 



DUTCH WARS. 127 

a provincial order from the States General, by which the 
West India Company was directed to make some conces- 
sions to tlie colony, (1650.) Two years elapse, and we 
find Van der Donck still appealing to the States General for 
justice, (1652.) The most that he procured was a municipal 
government for the city (as it was styled) of New Amster- 
dam, the first city of the United States. It was organized 
in the following year, (1653,) with sheriff, burgomasters, 
and judges, but all appointed by the director, Peter Stuy ve- 
sant, who had carried on for several years a downright war 
in defence of his prerogatives. In resentment against him 
personally much of the vigor belonging to the liberal party 
had been expended. He carried the day, it must be con- 
fessed, notwithstanding the city charter, notwithstanding 
also the remonstrances of a convention of eight towns held 
the same year. 

-, ,. . The measure of arbitrary government was not 

porsecu- yet full. At the instance of two clergymen of the 
Dutch church, a proclamation from the director ap- 
peared, threatening fines upon all preachers and hearers of 
unlicensed congregations, (1650.) The first to suffer were 
Lutherans, who were not merely fined, but imprisoned ; then 
some Baptists, who were not merely fined, but banished. 
Soon after, a few Quakers fell into the hands of the per- 
secutors, one of them being subjected to tortures as horrid 
as any inflicted in the English colonies, (1657.) A few 
years afterwards, the remonstrance of a Quaker, John 
Bowne, who had been transported to Holland as a criminal, 
brought upon Director Stuyvesant the censure of the com- 
pany for his oppression, (1662-63.) 

Despite all these drawbacks upon its strength, 

Subjec- '■ 1 ' i 1 1 f 

tion of New Netherland was strong enough, with help from 
deT ^^^^ ^^^ company, to subdue its neighbor of New Swe- 
den. That colony, though reenforced at times, con- 



128 I'AliT II. 1G3S-17G3. 

tinuod ill a precarious state, witli few settler:? and uncertain 
resources. Protested against by the Dutch as interloping^ 
within their territory, it had nevertlicless inxited Dutch 
enii<;rants amongst its own settlers, (IGlO.) But the New 
JNetherland authorities were on the; alert. Partly in op- 
position to a Connecticut settlement attempted on the Dela- 
ware, but chieliy in resistance to the advances of the Swedes, 
Stuyvesant built his Fort Casimir at the present Newcas- 
tle, (1G51.) A new governor, Rysingh, coming to the 
Swedish colony, got possession of the fort without difficulty, 
(IG.Jl.) It cost him dear; for Stuyvesant, with a force of 
several hundred, principally sent from Holland lor the pur- 
pose, not only recovered Fort Casimir, but conquered Fort 
Cliristina and the whole of New Sweden, (IGoo.) A few 
Swedes swore allegiance to the Dutch ; the rest went home 
or emigrated to the English colonies. The Swedish gov- 
ernment protested against the conquest of its colony ; but 
it had too much upon its hands in Europe to recover its pos- 
sessions in America. So New Sweden came to an end ; 
and the dream of the generous Gustavus Adolphus that he 
was to found a place of refuge from persecution and from 
corruption vanished forever. 

New Am- The victorious West India Company hardly knew 
stci. what to do with its conquest. It found a purchaser, 
however, in the city of Amsterdam, which became the mis- 
tress of what had been New Sweden, — portions of our Dela- 
ware and Pennsylvania, — under the name of New Amstel, 
(IGoG.) This was enlarged by a subsequent purchase so 
as to embrace the Dutch possessions on both banks of [Iw. 
Delaware ; in other words. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and 
Delaware, (1GG3.) 

„ ,. . l>ut the dominions of the Dutch, whether West 

aj:;f^eH- India Company or Amsterdam city, were i)assing 

The claiuis of Enghuid to the 



DUTCH WARS, 129 

territory had been asserted, as mentioned in a former chap- 
ter, from a very early period. They lost nothing, it may be 
believed, of their force, as colonies multiplied and lands 
were in continually increasing demand. An old grant from 
the Council for New England* was made to cover Long 
Island. Comiecticut and Massachusetts pushed on towards 
the Hudson. On the south, parties from Connecticut and 
from Maryland threatened the domains upon the Delaware, 
(1 60 9-63.) Year after year, during a quarter of a century, 
brought some fresh invasion of the English, exciting some 
fresh remonstrance from the Dutch. " Those of Hartford," 
runs one of the Dutch records, " have not only usurped and 
taken in the lands of Connecticut, but have also beaten 
the servants of their high mightinesses the honored com- 
pany with sticks and plough staves, laming them," (1G40.) 
It is the tone of all the records, querulous and feeble, 
the wail of a colony never numbering more than ten 
thousand against its far more numerous neighbors. Nor 
were its neighbors its only foes. Amongst its own people 
was a large number of Englislunen, emigrants from hostile 
colonies, who naturally became hostile settlers. At one 
time, some English villages of Long Island proclaimed " the 
commonwealth of England and his highness the lord pro- 
tector," (1655^ At another, -the towns at the west end of 
the island proclaimed the Enghsh king, (I660.) Finally, 
the danger was so great that Peter Stuyvesant, the foe of 
all liberal institutions, called a convention of his province. 
It appears how far the English had pushed their aggressions 
on scanning the meagre list of the towns or settlements 
that were represented. New Amsterdam and Rensselaers- 
wyck head the roll of twelve. The convention favored peace 
with the Indians ; as for the English, why, the English in 
New Netherland alone were " six to one," (1664.) 

* To the Earl of Stirling, (1635.) 



loO PART II. 1G38-17G3. 

^^^. Lon^ as tho disscMisions botwoon the Englisli and 

lussofthc tlie Dutch had histt'd, neitlier the colonies nor th(^ 
pn.vintt. jjj^^jj^^.j, countries had gone to war about them. A 
war of two years (1652-54) between the Dutch and the 
p]nji;lisli under Croniwrll did not involve their American 
settlements. AVhen Knghuid came under Ciiarles II., 
another war with Holland was resolved U})on, partly from 
commercial and partly from pohtical motives, the chief 
of the latter bein": the intimate connection at that time 
bctwi'cn tlie Dutch and the French. Before war was for- 
mally dechired, New Netherland was surprised by an Eng- 
lish fleet. It did not come as a national, but as an individ- 
ual expedition. Charles II. had made a grant, as luis been 
narrated, of New Netherland to the Duke of York and 
Albany. It had been the work of a few months only for the 
duke to buy up other EngUsh claims, and collect commis- 
sioncu-s and troops to take possession of his new realms. 
Accompanied by John "Winthrop, governor of Connecti- 
cut, who, though amiable and disinterested in most respects, 
was full of determination against the Dutch, the commis- 
sioners, headed by Colonel Nichols, obtained possession of 
the province without battle. The terms of the surrender 
])romised to the con([uered their religion, their law of inherit- 
ance, and their trade and intercourse with Holland, (IGGl.) 
Tlie transaction, at first professedly discountenanced by 
England, was afterwards sustained by her, and finally sub- 
mitted to by Holland in the treaty of Breda, (lOG?.) 

On the outbreak of fresh liostilities between the 

Recovery 

and final same Countries, a few years later, (1 G72,) New York, 
as New Amsterdam was now called, received the 
summons to capitulate to a Dutch squadron, (1G73.) It did 
so, and was held by the Dutch for upwards of a year, when 
it was once more, and for tlie last time, surrendered by them, 
(1G74.) Thus were the Dutch, and with them the Swedes, 
brought beneath the English dominion. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Spanish Wars. 

Spanish There w€re Other races, rivals of the English, 
race. jggg easily to be reduced than the Dutch or the 
Swedes. One upon the southern border bore the flag of 
Spain, rent and dim indeed, but still the flag of a great 
nation. 

Its col- Yet the colony of the Spaniards was far from 
•^"y- being a great one. St. Augustine, eldest of the 
permanent settlements upon United States soil, was amongst 
the least active of them all. Half garrison, half mission 
in its character, it formed a post where a few troops and a 
few priests kept up the Spanish claim upon Florida. A 
century after its foundation, it was nearly annihilated by 
one of the buccaneermg expeditions that were wont to 
ravage the American coast. It rallied, however, especially 
when a treaty between Spain and England put a stop to 
the English commissions with which the buccaneers of the 
time were generally provided, (1670.) 
„ ... . But there was no srood will to speak of between 

Collisions * ^ 

vrith the Spain and England, or amongst their colonies. A 
^^ ^^ ' force from Florida was soon marching against the 
newly-organized Carolina, a more flagrant incursion, in 
Spanish eyes, upon the territory still claimed by Spain, 
than any of the northern colonies had made. The expe- 
dition was met and turned back by the resolute Carolinians, 
(1G72.) Some years after, another invasion of the Spaa- 

(131) 



132 I'AKT 11. lGo8-17G3. 

ianls cllrctcd llio distniclion of a Scotch scttlemont just 
nuulc. jicar tlic Spanish horder, (1G8G.) These were not 
Avars so much as tlic chastiscnients inilicted or attcmj)ted 
by Florida a^^ainst its Kurdish trespassers.. 

If tli( re was any effect, it was not to dislodfi^e the 

EfTcot . . 

oil tiio intru(h'rs, hut ratlier to stimuhite tlie intruded U})on. 

f<^"^"0- i^ij^ji-idji took a f'resli st;irt. St. Augustine awoke 

from its slumber, brushed up its means of offence and 

defence, and assumed a new attitude. The surrounding 

country, still in the hands of the Indians, was dotted over 

with forts and chapels, with soldiers and missionaries. On 

the other side of the i)eninsula, upon the Gulf of Mexico, 

Pensacola was reared with fortress and dwellings, (IGDG.) 

It seemed as if Spain was at last to occupy our soil with a 

colony worthy of bearing her great name. 

War. Presently war broke out between England with 

Attacks yr^i-io^is^ allies on one side, and on the other 

on St. ' 

Auffus- Spain and France, (1702.) It was but just heard 

Chlrk-s- ^^ "^ South Carolina, when Governor Moore ob- 
to"- tained the consent of the assembly to an attack upon 

St. Augustine. "With twelve hundred men, half of them 
Indians, Moore was able to take the town, but not the fort, 
from which he precipitately retreated on the arrival of 
some Spanish men-of-war from Havana, (1702.) I^oorly 
as his expedition turned out, Moore, no longer governor, 
headed a second, composed ahnost entirely of Indians, with 
whom he made a foray amongst the missionary villages of 
Northern Florida without any effective resuhs, (170').) 
The next year, a naval attack by both French and Span- 
iards upon Charleston was beaten off with great loss, three 
hundred out of (nght luuidred assailants being killed or 
ca])tun'd, (170G.) Tliis was the last event of the war, so 
far as the colonies were concerned, although peace was not 
made until seven years later by the treaty of Utrecht, 
(1713.) 



SPANISH WARS. 133 

Treaty of This treaty is of moment in United States his- 
utrecht. torj. The war, of wliicli it was the conclusion, 
arose from tlie attempt of Louis XIV. to seat a prince of 
his own house upon fhe Spanish throne ; in other words, to 
combine Spain and France in one vast kingdom. So 
menacing was the attempt to Europe, that not England 
alone, but Holland, Germany, both the Empire and Prus- 
sia, Portugal and Savoy armed themselves against it. 
The treaty of Utrecht decided that France and Spain must 
remain separate. Had they been jojped, tlie English colo- 
nies upon our shores would have found it difficult to with- 
stand their united foes. 

Second Five years after, France was on the side of Eng- 

vvar. ir^^^(j in a ^yar with Spain, (1718.) It Avas caused 

Descents . . . -., 

ourior- prmcipally by the refusal of Spain to fulfil the 
^'^^' Utrecht treaty so far as related to the empire of 
Germany, with which power France and England, and 
then Holland, all alhed themselves. Afterwards, Spain 
and the Empire made peace together, while France, Eng- 
land, and Holland formed a league against them, (1725.) 
Little was done either in Europe or in America. Pensa- 
cola was taken and retaken by the French, then in their 
Louisiana settlements, (1719.) It was soon restored, 
(1721.) A force of three hundred, i artly Indians, made 
a sally from Carolina upon the Spanish and Indian villages 
of Florida, (1725.) But the war was without interest or 
eifect, and peace returned with the treaty of Seville, 
(1729.) 

Third Then followed the settlement of Georgia, already 

^^'■- . described as intended to be an outpost against the 
andlior- Spaniards, (1733.) Wliatever they thought of tliis 
Ida. fresh aggression upon their realm, they seem to 
have said or done nothing for some time ; then General 
Oglethorpe, the head of the Georgian colony, Avas sum- 
12 



134 PART II. 1638-1763. 

moned to evacuate the territory, (1736.) War being 
declared by England against Spain, chiefly in consequence 
of Spanish depredations upon English commerce, Ogle- 
thorpe received orders to invade Florida, (1739.) He 
did so, with a force of twelve . hundred men from both 
the Carohnas and Virginia, as well as from his own prov- 
ince, besides an equal number of Lidians. With these, 
and with trains and ships, he laid siege to St. Augustine ; 
but being deserted by most of his Indians, and by many 
of his volunteers, he v^s obliged to abandon the enterprise, 
(1740.) A large expedition from England, reenforccd, 
fii'st and last, by upwards of four thousand colonial troops, 
was equally unsuccessful against the Spanish strongholds 
in the West Indies, (1740-41.) But the Spaniards them- 
selves did no better in their invasion of Georgia, from 
which they were repelled, partly by battle and partly by 
fraud, Oglethorpe being still there, (1741.) After this, 
the Spanish war subsided, nor did the French share in the 
hostilities begin for three years to come, (1744.) Four 
years later, the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle restored things 
to their state before the war, (1748.) 

Fourth J'^^st ^^ the last colonial war with France was 
■^^i- endini!^, the fourth and last colonial war with Spain 

Cession , ,^, . • . , , 

of Fior- began. This power came nito the contest as the 
*'^^- ally of France, in America even more than in 

Europe, the object being to prevent the English expelling 
the French from their American possessions, and then 
ttu'ning against the Spaniards, as was apprehended,.- and 
expelling them from theirs. But the French were already 
driven out; and nothing interfered with a vigorous onset of 
the English upon the Spaniards. New England and New 
York contributed to the capture of Havana iu, tke open- 
ing year of the war, (17G2.) The treaty of Paris, begun 
upon in the same, though not formally completed till the 



SPANISH WARS. 135 

following year, restored Havana to Spain. But it gave 
an immense accession of territory to England and her 
colonies. What France surrendered will appear hereafter. 
Spain ceded Florida, once the whole of North America, 
but now little more than a peninsula of the southern coast, 
(1763.) A royal proclamation of the same year gave 
names and boundaries to East and West Florida, the latter 
province embracing the French cessions east of the IVIissis- 
sippi. Twenty years after, the Floridas reverted to Spain, 
to be again separated from it at a later period. 

To make some amends to Spain for her losses in 
Louisiana attempting the rescue of France, the latter king- 
andCau- ^Jqjjj jrave UD her colony of Louisiana. To this 

fornia. * i . i 

we shall revert. At nearly the same time that the 
Spaniards took possession of their acquisition in the east, 
they extended theu* settlements in the west by establishing 
missions at San Diego and Monterey, California, (1769.) 

But the Spanish wars, so far as our country was 

Character 

of tiie concerned, were over. They had never arisen, ex- 
Spamsh ^jgp^ ^^ ^Yie case of the last brief war, from any 
consideration of American interests. Nor had they 
called forth any development of American energies either 
in crowded battles or extended campaigns. But they had 
continued, if we date from the first encounters, for nearly 
a century. 



CHAPTER VII. 

French Possessions. 

F,.p,i(.i, The great rival of tlie English race upon our 

ra£e. g^jj reappears. It is time to turn back beyond 
Spanish, Dutch, and Indian wars, nay, beyond the growth 
of the English colonies, to trace the progress of the French 
in America. No other nation, it will be found, not even 
the English, asserted claims or projected achievements of 
equal vastness. 

New We left the French the masters of New France 

France. — ^ name of vague extension originally, but subse- 
quently confined, as will be remembered, to Acadie and 
Canada. Acadie being itself shorn of its original dimen- 
sions, the province of Canada remained the chief division 
of New France. 

System '^^^^ French, like the English colonies, were not 
of -ov- always under the immediate government of the 
mother country. An intermediate authority, vested 
in the Company of New France, prevailed for thirty-five 
years, (1G27-62.) For twelve years more, a French West 
India Company was commissioned to administer the affairs 
of the colony, (1663-75.) But with these bodies were 
associated some officers of royal appointment, so that there 
was no time when the colony was wholly removed from 
the oversight of the sovereign. Nor was the season during 
which the two companies lasted by any means so long or 
80 decisive as the periods of the royal government. New 

(136) 



FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 137 

France, like Old France, was essentially a monarchy, and 
a monarchy in which the monarch was growing out of all 
proportion to the people. Its institutions were of the past. 
A governor general, representing the monarch, wdth an 
intendant for a prime minister, a council of notables for a 
nobility, and a host of ecclesiastics, with a bishop at their 
head, (from 1659,) constituted the authorities of the col- 
ony. The ruling class amongst the people was that of the 
seigneurs, or lords of the manor ; their tenants, called 
habitans, holding land of them by feudal tenure. No 
press was allowed ; no l^rning of a liberal nature was 
encouraged. The education of the province was in the 
hands of the religious orders, whose names and numbers 
were almost as manifold as in the mother-land. Under 
these influences, the colony could not but be greatly re- 
stricted. The main body of the people were necessarily 
d'ependent, unable to act for themselves or for their country, 
the few alone having the will and the power to urge on the 
work of colonization and of dominion. 

Such were the internal drawbacks upon the proo;- 

Relation3 „ ^^ _, ^.^ , , . , 

with In- ress ot iNew J^ ranee. Of those which we may 
diansand ^^^jj external, the chief were the relations of the 

Euglisn. 

French with the Indians and the English. Those 
with the Indians were of two kinds — with the friendly and 
with the unfriendly tribes. Now it may seem that the 
amicable intercourse of the French with the large propor- 
tion of the natives around them must have been entirely 
conducive to their prosperity. But it did not prove to be 
so, on account, principally, of the tendency of the French 
settlers to sink to the level of their Indian allies, rather 
than to raise these to themselves. The Frenchman, wheth- 
er missionary or soldier, explorer or trader, appeared to 
find a fascination in savage life which he could not resist ; 
and yet it was the vices rather than the virtues of the 
12* 



138 TART II. ir.ns-iTO.l. 

Indian oharaotcr \vliicli lie adinirci] and imitated. lie 
Ix'camc iiidolciil, trcMcIid'oiis, morosely cruel, in many in- 
stiinccs i'ar more ot" a sayage tlian any Indian. As to the 
hostile tribes, it is enonuh, at the present moment, to name 
the Five Nations, with wliom, as will appear hei-eafter, tlie 
Freneh were at war tor a eentnry. As to the Knglisli, it 
mnst he left to the next ehapter to vset lortli the ohstaeles 
which they presented to Freneh advaneement. It is sulli- 
cient to ol)serve that tliese hinderaiiees from without, joined 
to those from witliin, formed a hristling barricade over 
which all the ardor and all tflir* disciplines of the French 
character would fnid it dilfu'ijlt to mount. The stronger 
must have been the impulses to have extended the limits of 
New France so far as we shall now tind th(.'m. 
. ,. The boundaries of Acadie stretched from the 

inciiuiiug northern coasts, through all tlu; east of Maine, as far 

as the K<'nnebec, the French asserted; as far as the 
Penobscot, the Knglish allowed. AVith the portions of the 
province in the norlli we have no further concern than to 
observe that tiny included all now called Nova Scotia, New 
Brunswick, and CajiC lireton, together with indefinite re- 
|:pons beyond. IMaine was but feebly held by the French. 
Missions at the mouth of the Penobscot and on the Kenne- 
bec, with a post or two for trade, comprised all that could 
be called settlements. But for the towns and forts of the 
neighboring parts of Acadie, the east as well as the west of 
Maine would have fallen into English hands. 

Passing over the cities and fortresses of Central 
inciiiiiiug Canada, as foreign to our soil, but not without re- 
^*^^ membering their importance, let us pursue the 
Wiscon- Canadian settlements that were made or attempted 
f"n'^''''^' "P<^'" a(;tual United- States territory. The first to 

advance was, as usual, a missionary, Le Moyne, 
who, with a few associates, labored amongst the Five Na- 



FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 139 

tions, then at peace. A colony was founded in Western 
New York, but only to be abandoned on account of renewed 
warfare between the French and Indians, (1656-58.) A 
few years later, Allouez, another missionary, led the way 
up the lakes, and founded the mission of St. Esprit, on the 
southern shore of Superior, in the present Wisconsin, 
(1666.) Two years after, Dablon and Marquette estab- 
lished a mission at Sault Ste. Marie, in the present Michi- 
gan, (1668.) Other missions arose in the adjoining forests 
and on the contiguous shores. After the missionary came 
the trader, and after the trader generally the soldier ; so 
that to the mission house there were added dwellings, bar- 
racks, and, in time, a fort, whose sounding title frequently 
drowned the peaceful name of the mission. Thus was 
Canada extended beyond the St. Lav/rence and its tributa- 
ries, beyond all neighborhood of the English colonies, into 
the valleys and the wildernesses of the west. 

Mis ^^^^^ more distant realms were reached. Father 
sissippi. Marquette, of the Michigan mission, hearing of a 
great river towards the setting sun, resolved to find 
and to explore it. Before he started, his brethren, Allouez 
and Dablon, penetrated into the interior of Wisconsin and 
Illinois, (1672.) Marquette, with a few companions, found 
the Mississippi, as he had been directed by the natives, and 
sailed upon its waters as far doAvn as Arkansas, (1673.) 
On his return, he established a new mission near the present 
Chicago in Illinois. 

The tidings from the Mississippi kindled new 
plans of trade, new visions of dominion. To begin 
upon them, there soon appeared a Frenchman, La Salle, — 
in youth a Jesuit, in manhood a trader and an adventurer of 
the highest stamp amongst the colonists of New France. 
Repairing to the French court, he obtained a commission to 
complete the discovery of the great western river, in consid- 



140 TART II. 1638-1763. 

eralion of wliich the, monopoly of the fur trade was to be his 
own, (1677.) IK' soon cnij^aged in his enterprise; but four 
}X'ars of exertion and of disappointment pa.ssed over him, 
before he descended the Mississippi to its mouth and to the 
adjacent coasts. It did not matter that the Spaniard De Soto 
had been tlie discoverer of the river a century and a half be- 
fore the French. They hailed themselves possessors of the 
waters and of the shores, under the name of Louisiana, (1682.) 
French Thus was New France extended from north to 
domiuion. gQutli, and from east to west. AVhile the Swedes 
and the Dutch had yielded their hold upon our soil, while 
the Spaniards had contracted theirs to the single corner of 
Florida, while the English had only their New England, 
Kew York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virguiia, and Carolina, 
the whole together forming not much more than a broken 
beach upon the Atlantic, the French dominion stretched 
from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, over vale, and prairie, and 
mountain, far round by the western waters, to the Gulf of 
Mexico. It still needed time, vigor, wisdom, to make this 
mighty empire a reality as well as a name. 
Colony in ^0 time was lost in sending La Salle, who had 
Texas, gone to France to tell his adventurous story, with a 
colony of two hundred, to make a settlement in Louisiana. 
Missing the mouth of the Mississippi, the party were landed 
on what is now the Texan shore, near the present Mata- 
gorda, where they built a fort with the name of St. Louis, 
(1685.) But things went hard with them, and when they 
were reduced to less than a fifth of their original number. 
La Salle found it time to seek relief in Canada. On his 
way thither, with half of his surviving comrades, he was 
foully murdered by one of them, (1687.) The colony of 
St. Louis soon vanished from the earth. 

Twelve years passed before another trial to colonize 
Louisiana. A twofold attempt was then made, one by the 



FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 141 

English and one by the French. The okl grant of 
msZ '"^ Cai^olana having been bouglit up by one of the later 
Bippi- ]^(.^y Jersey proprietors, Coxe, he sent, under ^Mirmis- 
sion of Ills sovereign, a small squadron to take possession of 
the Mississippi. One of the vessels, sailing up the river, 
was met by a band of Frenchmen, who, by assuring the 
Englishmen that they were in a part of Canada, and not hi 
Louisiana, prevailed upon them to turn about at a bend still 
called the English Turn— Detour aux Anglais. 80 the 
English retired, and the French held their own. They 
were a party of two hundred in number, under Lemoine 
D'Iberville, a Canadian of greater gallantry than prudence, 
who, intent upon mines and treasures rather than upon the 
substantial resources of a colony, chose the sands of Biloxi, 
in what is now Mississippi, for the site of his fort, (1699.) 
The next year, an expedition in search of mines travelled 
up the river as far as the Falls of St. Anthony, first visited 
by some of La Salle's companions twenty years before. 
Colon in The mines receded ; the sands of Biloxi remained. 
Alabama. DTberviUe, retmiiing from France, whither he went 
twice in quest of supplies, transferred the main body of the 
settlers to Mobile, in the present Alabama, (1702.) But 
DTberviUe, who, like La Salle, was the life and the soul of 
liis company, died, (1706,) and left the colony in a very 
precarious condition. "Nothing," says the French chroni- 
cler, "was more feeble." The truth was, that France Avas 
at this time too much occupied in Europe, to say nothing 
of the north of America, to rear a great colony in the wil- 
derness of Louisiana. 

Grant to -^.t length the province, extending from the mouth 
Crozat. ^f. ^^Q Mississippi to Lake Michigan, and from the 
English Carolina and the Spanish Florida to the New 
Mexico of Spain, was made over, for the term of fifteen 
years, to Antoine Crozat, a French merchant prince. He 



142 PART TI. 1G3S-17G3. 

was to receive a large sum every year from the royal treas- 
ury towards the expenses of the colonial government, besides 
the monopoly of trade to and from the colony. In return, 
he was to send a certain number of vessels and settlers, 
year by year, in order to keep up and to increase the colo- 
nial settlements, (1712.) A faint Hush of vigor seemed to 
overspread the struggling colony. 

Meanwliile the settlements in the north-west had 
settle- heen extended. The missions of Kaskaskia, (about 
ludilia. ^^'^^') ^'''^ Cahokia, (about 1700,) in our Ilhnois, 
and the settlement of Vincennes, in our Indiana, 
(alx)ut 1705,) hatl confirmed the occupation of that region. 
A military post was planted at Detroit, the central point in 
the great arc now formed by the French possessions, (1701.) 
Loss of I^iit we have reached a period when the French 

Acadie. possessions wcre beginning to be contracted. The 
war in the north, to which we must recur, had ended with 
the surrender, according to the treaty of Utrecht, of Acadie 
to England, (1713.) What was thus cut oif at the end of 
the line was more than equal, in point of population and of 
settlement, to all that had been added to the middle or to 
the lower end. 

Nor was there any reaction to compensate for the 
Penn-syi- l^^^"^- Canada, it is true, roused herself, building 
vaniaaud f^rts upoii Ncw York territory, at Niagara, (172C,) 
and Crown Point, (1731.) Western Pennsylvania 
was dotted with fortifications, at the same time that others 
were raised through the Ohio valley, (17o3.) But the 
most to be gained by these posts was a communication with 
the valley of the Mississippi and with Louisiana, where 
there was little to make the communication of any sensible 
importance. 

Louisiana, soon resigned by Antoine Crozat, had passed 
under the control of the Company of the West, otherwise 



FRENCH POSSESSIONS. 143 

Mississip- known as the Mississippi Company, (1717.) Dur- 
ny^Te^w ^"S ^^® frenzy of its speculations, both the colony 
Orieaas. and the mother country were inflated, merely to 
collapse with disappointment and disaster. Otherwise, the 
only ofhce rendered by the company to the colony was the 
establishment of its capital at New Orleans, (1718-23.) 
The company soon returned the colony upon the royal 
hands, (1730.) 

Our narrative ends with the final outbreak of hos- 
tile tiiir- tilities between the French and the English in 
teen of America, (1754.) Forty years had passed since 
the treaty of Utrecht began the rupture of the 
French possessions; but how much was there still left! 
Beyond the. limits of the United States the domains of the 
French were far more valuable, within the same limits 
they were far more extensive, than those of England. 
Over and above the colonies and posts that have been men- 
tioned, the first essays were made, at the epoch in question, 
towards the occupation of our Missouri. Counting by the 
states of a later period, we have thirteen of French * to 
match with the thirteen of English parentage. 
Vastness Enough has been said, however, to explain how 
and weak- easily the French possessions were extended by ad- 
venture, and yet how slightly they were either held 
or developed by actual settlement. The French dominion 
was as weak as it was vast. It spread over America like a 
cloud brilliant with the morning sunshine;, but, unsubstan» 
tial as a cloud, it was swept by the breeze and rent asunder 
by the storm. 

• * Three of each di^ision were the same. The French list comprised 
Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania, with Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, 
Eoiiisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Indianai, Ohio, and Missouri, 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Fkencii AVaks. 

The earliest wars in which the colonies of 
with III- France engaged were those with the Indians. 
«iiiuis in xiicy were also the lou^rest. From tlic time 

the north. •' ° 

when Champlain- headed a war party of Alixoii- 
quins against the Five Nations of New York, (IGOO,) this 
great confederacy was at war with the French, some inter- 
vals of peace excepted, for more than a century. To 
describe the descents upon the Canadian settlements, the 
wild cries and the w^ilder deeds of battles, the waste and 
the agony of homes, would be but to repeat our previous 
sketches of Indian warfare. Not until the treaty of 
Utrecht restored peace for a time between France and 
Enjiland did the Five. Nations, then the allies of tlie 
English, bury the tomahawk that had so long gleamed 
above the heads of the French, (1713.) 
j^ ^Yle Later wars with Indians broke out in the 

south. south. The Natchez were beaten, (1720-30,) but 
the Chickasaws could not be subdued, (1730—40.) These 
conflicts, however, were of moment chiefly to Louisiana. 
They did not affect the destinies of the French possessions 
generally. 

Strife be- Exccpt the brief contest with the Spaniards of 
tween the Florida, described in the last chapter but one, the 

Frencli ^ 

aiKi the French had no wars to conduct against any Euro- 
Enghsh. p^^j^ j.^^^ besides the English in America. This, 

(144) 



l-'RENCU \VARS. 145 

it is true, was enough for the French to contend with. 
Enemies for ages past in Europe, these nations turned to 
America in rivalry and contention. It was to outvie each 
other, in a great degree, that they made their settlements ; 
claiming the same lands at the beginning, and extending 
themselves in the same directions as time went on. The 
strife between the two great combatants began at an early 
period, as long ago related, when England, or rather Eng- 
land's colony of Virginia, destroyed the French settlement 
of St. Sauveur, (1613.) Continued by England herself, 
(1628-30,) war produced no effect; her conquests, as was 
mentioned, being surrendered, (1632.) 

indeci- ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^® ^6^t l^^^f century were not a 

sive wars, whit morc dccisivc. One, during the English com- 
monwealth, (1652-56,) reduced Acadie for a time beneath 
the sway of England. Another, after the restoration, 
(1666-67,) brought about nothing except a proposal to 
the New England colonies that they should conquer Can- 
ada. Peace restored Acadie, as far as the Penobscot, to 
France, leaving once more no results from the passion and 
the hostility that had been aroused. 

Acts of violence did not cease on either side. 

King 

William's An English trader on Lake Huron was seized, as 
a trespasser, by the French, (1687.) At the other 
extremity of New France, the governor of New England, 
Sir Edmund Andros, made an assault upon the trading 
post of a Frenchman on the Penobscot, (1688.) Each 
race was determined to hold, and, if possible, to increase 
its own. A fresh trial of their strength — the fourth in all, 
but the first in which the colonies of either nation took an 
active part — began with the war called King WiUiam's 
by the English colonists, (1689.) As far as concerned 
England, then under William III., the chief cause of the 
war was the support given by Louis XIV. to the lately 
13 



146 TART II. 1638-1763. 

dethroned James II. But Louis had excited in one way 
or another the jj^reatrr part of Europe. En;ihuid was sup- 
ported hy the German Empire, IloUand, Spain, and Sa- 
voy. From Europe tlie strife extenth-d to Asia, as well as 
to Amcrii'a. 

The difference between the contending' parties in 

Its chur- '^ '■ 

act.ruud America soon appearech On one side was the 
'*""'''■ mother country ratlicr than th(! colony, the strength 
of France rather than the weakness of Cana<hi and Acadie. 
On the otiier side was the increasing vigor of New Eng- 
huid and New York, supportrd at one time by grants from 
Maryhuid and Virginia, and thus presenting an array of 
colonies, rather than a single mother-land. Both sides 
were alike in the allies gathered irom the forest and the 
prairie ; the Indians of Canada, Acadie, and Maine follow- 
ing the French, while the English were assisted by the 
forays of the Five Nations along the Canadian lines. 
Indeed, the war was more of an Indian than of a P^uro- 
pean one in character. It began with the descents of 
French and Indian war parties ui)on Schenectady in New 
York, Salmon Falls and Casco in New England, (1G90.) 
An expedition from Massachusetts against Acadie, and 
.another, partly from New England and partly from New 
York, against Canada, were more regular opei-ations, 
(1090.) The latter scheme was prepared in a convention 
of delegates from Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, 
and New York, held in the last-named colony ; and al- 
though Canada was not invaded, the plans all fliiling, the 
colonies were united, at least for a season, by new bonds. 
The Massachusetts force, under Sir William Phips, suc- 
ceeded in ravaging Acadie, and even in seizing the eastern 
part of Maine, where a fort was presently constructed at 
Pcmaquid, (IG02 ;) but this was retaken in a few years 
by the French under DTberville, (1696,) the same who 



FRENCH WARS. ^ 147 

appeared in the south at a later time. Peace being made 
between the French and the Five Nations, — who were 
really far more formidable enemies than the English, — 
while the Abenakis of Maine still swept the frontiers of 
New England, a general invasion of the northern colonies 
was planned by the French, (1G96-97.) But the appre- 
hensions of the English were happily reheved by the 
treaty of Ryswick between the mother countries, (1697.) 
The war, though lasting eight years, had produced no 
sensible effect upon the relative strength of the parties 
engaged in it, nor had it decided any of the differences 
that had led to it, or that would lead to fresh strife in the 
future. 

Eeiic-ious ^^^® ^^ these differences has not yet been brouglit 
differ- out as it sliould be. Between the French and the 
English there existed the widest and the deepest 
gulf that ever opens between man and man or between 
nation and nation. It was the chasm between opposing 
creeds. Both professed to be Christians ; but the French 
were Catholic, the English Protestant. To the former the 
latter were heretics, the rightful objects of human enmity 
as "of divine. To the English Protestant, on the contrary, 
the French Cathohc was the minister of a superstition and 
an oppression as hateful to God as to man. It may he 
conceived how much these feelings contributed to whet the 
swords and to blunt the sensibilities of the warriors on 
either side. Sad, indeed, is the grouping of the two nations 
upon the American page, staining it with the passions of 
the old world, the more hateful in the new, because allied 
with the savage and the heathen. 

No marvel, then, that warfare was soon renewed. 

Queen ' 

Anne's Four years after the peace of Ryswick, Queen 

Anne's war began, on account, as has been related, 

of the designs of Louis XIV. upon the Spanish crown, 



118 PART II. ir,38-17r„S. 

(17<)l\) III America, the snine Tixlian allianoo.'^ were 
ionncd, tlu- saiiu' Iixliaii linstilitirs were excited, as in the 
preceding; eoiitest, exc'«'pt that tlie Five Nations (hd not 
take up the hateliet airain>t the French until the war was 
two tliirds over, ( 17(>'.».) Then' were also the same attacks 
upon the border scltlenients ; Deertield (1704) and Ilaver- 
liill (17(KS) being both wasted by the French, while the 
French territory about the Penobscot was scoured by the 
F^nglish, (1704.) But the war, as a whole, was character- 
ized by greater and more decisive operations. Two expe- 
ditions were directed from New England against Port 
Koyal; the first laying waste the adjoining country, (1707.) 
the second capturing the town ; the very name of which 
disap})eared in that of Annapolis, (1710.) The first per- 
manent settlement of the French, it was also the first i)er- 
manent conquest from them )>y the English. Two expe- 
ditions, likewise, were planned by New England, New 
York, and New Jersey, against Canada ; the first being 
merely planned, (1709,) and the second, though attempted, 
fiiiling through the inefficiency of the admiral conducting 
the English force in aid of the enterp;-ise, (1711.) As in 
the la-t war, so in this, the northern colonies of England 
were arrayed against France rather than her colonies. 
The English colonies of the centre were inactive ; those 
of the south Avere occupied at this period, as must be 
remembered, with Spanish and Indian hostilities. Twelve 
years having passed in warfare, peace w\as made at Utrecht, 
and France surrendered Acadie to England, (1713.) The 
war was the first of the five between the two nations to 
make any change in their American possessions. 

New iwints of collision were appearing in the 

Collision ' ' ' 

in tho west. As early as the beginning of the last war, 

^'^^*' a treaty with members of the Five Nations was 

made the basis of an Enghsh claim to vast territories, 



FRENCH WARS. 149 

(1701.) To explain the claim on any principles is not 
verj easy. It not oni^ made out the Five Nations to be 
the masters of the west, far beyond their own borders, but 
also made out the English king to be the master of the 
Five Nations. A quarter of a century afterwards, a new 
treaty with the same tribes actually transferred to the 
English a portion of the country claimed by them, (1726.) 
Meanwhile the pretensions of the English to the entire 
interior, from the coast on which their colonies were 
planted to the Pacific, had never been abandoned. It was 
their right, they alleged, to possess the western, if they 
occupied the eastern shores. To aid the English advance 
towards the west, a trading post had been established at 
Oswego. It now became a fort, (1727.) But where it 
stood, and where its range, so to speak, was meant to 
extend, the French claimed the sovereignty. 
And in There were also difficulties, both old and new, 
the east, arising in the east. The war between the English 
and the Abenakis, in which French missions were assailed, 
and a French missionary was murdered, threatened fresh 
hostilities, (1724.) The French, on their side, exasperated, 
perhaps, by the loss of Acadie, were inclined to infringe 
upon English rights. Acadie, they argued, was only the 
peninsula, or what is now called Nova Scotia. But the 
English replied with reason, that it was not only the penin- 
sula, but the adjoining mainland, and even the surround- 
ing islands. Yet to these the French held fast, especially 
to Cape Breton, where stood their stronghold of Louisburg, 
by far more important in their eyes, and in those of their 
adversaries, than any of the inconsiderable posts upon the 
territory that had been surrendered. 

^.^^^ At length, after a third of a century of nominal 

GeciKc's peace, war was renewed, (1744.) It was called 
King George's by the English colonists, from 
13* 



150 PAliT II. Ifi38-17G3. 

Gf'orcro IT. II i> int( rposition in favor of Aii>tria mikI Sar- 
dinia, tlirn cdinbintd anain-t Fraiift and Spain with other 
jKjwiTs, K'd to a Frcncli (U'c-iaralion of war; Spain, a> may 
be recollected, bein^ already at war with Enirland. France 
■was now nnder Loiii^ X\'. Tiie French heiiiLT at peace 
>vith the Five, now the Six Nations, and the Indians within 
the En^dish limits being much diminished in numbers and 
in spirits, the Eurojiean races Ibught their battles more by 
themselves. An expedition, proposed by Massachusetts, 
and supported by men from Connecticut, New IIami)shire, 
and subsequently Rhode Island, as well as by su})plies from 
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, all under the 
command of William Pe[)perell, of JMaine, and all accom- 
j)anied by a Heel from F^jigland, accomplished the reduction 
of Louisburg in less than two months, (1745.) A still 
more extensive campaign was projected for the Ibllowing 
year, when New England, New York, New Jersey, Mary- 
land, and Virginia, with a grant from Pennsylvania, and an 
armament from England, were to invade Canada ; but the 
English force did not appear, and rumors of a F'rench 
descent upon New England broke up the colonial ranks, 
(174G.) France did little of any kind. Her troops at 
Crown Point maxle some incursions into Massachusetts 
and New York, but the meditated invasion of New Eng- 
land was an utter failure. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 
closed the war, four years after its outbreak, restoring Cape 
IJreton and Louisburg to France, (1748.) 

Peace was soon broken. An attack upon the 
Biu-ii in French at Chignecto, on the Isthmus of Nova 
^'"■'' Scotia, caused the first blood to be shed, (1750.) 
Forts rising in various places betokened additional 
(•<»ntlicls. It was evident lliat llie tr(»id)les in the <'ast were 
far from being allayed. 

Nor was tlie jtro.-peel calmer in tlie we.-t. At the expi- 



FRENCH WARS. 151 

The Ohio ration of the last war, a number of individuals, 
Compauy. partly Englishmen and partly colonists, associated 
as the Ohio Company, obtained a grant of half a million 
of acres on the eastern bank of the Ohio River, (1749.) 
Vu-ginia, whose governor was interested in the enterprise, 
took the lead in the treaties with the Indians and the nego- 
tiations with the French required by the plans of the com- 
pany. But the French were not to be made friends of on 
that ground. They attacked an Indian settlement where 
some English traders had found refuge, and seized them as 
prisoners, (1752.) They then assailed the troops of the 
Ohio Company. A Virginia party, sent to construct a fort 
at the head of the Ohio, was driven back by a French 
force, who completed the fortification, and called it Fort 
Du Quesne, (1753-54.) 

A larger band, already on the mai'ch from Vir- 
shed iii ginia to the disputed territory, was soon engaged in 
Penusyi- battle with the French upon Pennsylvanian soil. 

vania. 

George The first cncouuter between detachments from both 
Washing- gi^jgg resulted in tlie defeat of the French ; but 
the second, between the main bodies at the Great 
Meadows, ended in the retreat of the Virginians. They had 
been bravely led, their leader being George Washington. 
An envoy of peace to the French before he thus appeared 
as an officer in war, he was the same in character, if not 
in experience, that he showed himself to be in after years. 
He was now but twenty-two. 

The final It was the final struggle that had thus begun on 
struggle. ^i^Q shores of Nova Scotia and in the forests of 
Pennsylvania. The mother countries came into collision 
in the following year, (1755.) Then the English fleet took 
some French transports off Newfoundland, and followed up 
the attack by scouring the seas. The land forces were 
equally active. One army, pai'tly of colonial and partly 



152 PART IT. 1G:^S-I7r)3. 

of Enj]:li>li troops, iii;irclH<l iiiidcr General Hraddock to 
defeat near Fort J)u (^iiesne. Another, ex('lu>ively colo- 
nial, first under General Lyman, and then under Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson, with Mohawks in the train, routed the 
French under Baron Dieskau at Lake George, and built 
Fort William Henry. But they made no attempt at the 
reduction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, against which 
they had originally start<.'d on their march. Another colo- 
nial force under the English General Shirley, setting out 
to reduce Fort Niagara, ventured no farther than Oswego. 
The only expedition to succeed was one that even the 
victors might afterwards w^ish to have failed. Not content 
with forcing the French troops to evacuate their forts on 
the Isthmus of Nova Scotia, which was done by a force 
from Massachusetts, aided by a few hundred English sol- 
diers, the conquerors decided to drive the entire poi)ulation 
of the territory into exile. Seven thousand miserable 
creatures, separated from their families, and bereft of their 
possessions, were thrown upon the charity of the English 
colonies, where every association, religious and social, 
national and individual, was against them. Thus op<'ned 
the w\ar, (1755.) It was formally declared in the spring 
of the following year, (175G.) 

Like the last of the Spanish wars, which broke 

Extent. 

out in connection with this, the last French war 
sprang from American causes, at least to a great degree. 
Actual ho.stilities occurred in America near six years 
sooner than in Europe. But Euroi)e did not sit looking 
across the seas. She armed herself for her Seven Years' 
War, as it was styled. Prussia was on the side of England, 
Austria on that of France. Russia and vSweden took 
part against Prussia, rather than for England. After 
vSpain came in on the French side, Portugal decl.ared in 
favor of the English. Germany was the chief S(;ene of 



FRENCH WARS. 153 

action in Europe. Asia and Africa also furnished battle 
grounds. 

American operations were for some time yet 
of the more adverse to the Enghsh than those already 
"^ '^ " described. Niagara, Crown Point, and Du Quesne 
continued the objects of attack and of defence ; but far 
from being able to take them, the English were unable to 
defend their own posts. The fort at Oswego yielded to the 
Marquis of Montcalm the same year that war was declared, 
(175G.) The next year, (1757,) Montcalm was the master 
of Fort William Henry. Thus, after four campaigns, (1754 
-57,) the English were retiring before the French. Yet 
the resources of the English had been infinitely greater 
than those of their foes. Canada, which bore the brunt of 
war, did not contain more than twenty thousand effective 
troops ; and even tl:ese were in danger of becoming ineffec- 
tive by their isolation from the mother country, on wliich 
the French colonists were ever wont to rely. 

It was not surprisino^, therefore, that the renewed 

Their 

subse- exertions of England, and above all of her colonies, 
quent |)y wlilcli alouc twentv thousand men were now 

victories. 

raised, should repair the losses of the preceding 
years. Louisburg was the first prize, the whole Gulf of 
St. Lawrence being taken possession of immediately. Fort 
Frontenac, on the northern shore of Ontario, and Fort Du 
Quesne were found deserted. Amongst those who marched 
against the latter fortress, only to see it in ruins, was Wash- 
ington, then at the head of the Virginian forces. There, 
where he had fought his first battles, where he had been 
twice obliged to retreat, once in command and once in 
Braddock's staff, he now made his last appearance in the 
war. Ilis strength Avas reserved for a greater conflict. 
Ail these accjuisitions of the Engli&h were made in one 
year, (1758.) The next brought the abandonment of 



154 PART II. lC.38-1703. 

Ticonderocra, Crown INiinl, mikI NiaL'ara, and more mo- 
mentous still, the surri'iulcr of C^iicbfc, after the p:roat 
IMoiitealm's deleat by the troops whom the ^rreater Wolfe 
had led to :ini:i/.inL' vietuiT, (17.VJ.) The two years, 
together, decided ilie war. 

Condii- ^^^'^ ^^ eoiitimied a year or two to come. An 

Bi.in uf attemi)t of the. French to regain (Quebec being 
repulsed, Montreal soon atler capitulated to the 
English, who were acknowledged conquerors of Canada, 
(1700.) All but a lew posts in the farther west were 
surrendered to them within the following year, (17G1.) 
Meanwhile operations, previously connnenced, were re- 
newed against the French AVest Indies by an armament 
composed in part of colonial troops ; the islands of the 
Caribbean group being all captured, (1759-62.) There 
was no such thing as fighting against reverses hke these. 
After twelve years of actual w^arfare, the French made 
peace ; the treaty of Paris ceding to England all east of 
the Mississippi save two little islands, St. Pierre and 
Miquelon in the north, and New Orleans in the south ; 
tliis last, with all west of the same river, being transferred 
to Spain, whose part in the war has been previously 
described, (17G3.) 

The French colonists were loath to give up the 
FivMch territory which their mother country had surren- 
dered. Such of the western posts as were not 
not already in possession of the English did not come 
under their new masters for a year or two, (1765.) In- 
di'ed, it was some months after the treaty that a F^rench 
party under Pierre Laclede established a new settlement 
at St. Louis, in our Missouri, upon the lands ceded to Spain, 
(1764.) Several years more passed before the Spaniards 
installed themselves in Western Louisiana, (17G8.) But 
the French nation had played its part as a power on United 



FRENCH WARS. 155 

States territory. Not the less lasting, however, were the 
influences that had arisen from its possessions and its wars 
while they endured. 

The issue of the French wars needs little com- 
and Eng- mcnt after what has gone before. The English, in 
hshcom- their compact colonies, resembled a man in full 

pared. , ^ 

armor, in contending with whom, the French, scat- 
tered over their disjointed settlements, were like a knight 
protected by nothing but fragments of his coat of mail. 
The Englishman, moreover, stood strong in himself, strong 
in liis colony even more than in liis mother land ; but the 
Frenchman leaned upon the distant France, with all liis 
enterprise a dependent colonist, with all his gallantry a 
submissive subject. So much for the causes and contrasts 
that were at work in America. If we return to Europe, 
we shall find France too much engaged in ambition and in 
battle there to put forth her strength for the defence of 
colonies as languishing in fact as they were magnificent 
ill form. 



CHAPTER IX. 
Colonial DEVKLorMENT. 

^ , The Kii'i'lisli territory was iinmciisclv iiioi-eiised 

Develop- n J 

nuiiitof by the successful wai*s that have been described, 
oin oiy. -^^^^ ^vere its limits extended solely at the ex[>eiise 
of neighboring domains. Within the boundaries aln-iuly 
belonging to the colonies of iMigland, there had been a large 
accession to the lands formerly occupied. New lields were 
brought into cultivation ; new towns were lormed ; new 
means of communication were opened between the old hal>i- 
tations and the new. 

Of occu- The development of territory arose chiefly from 
patiou. jj^g development of occupation. As the numbers 
and wants of tlie colonists multij)lied with time, they found 
fresh ways of employing and of enriching themselves. Tlie 
seaboard was lined with merchants and tradei's ; the interior 
was filled with farmers and planters ; wdiile aix)und them 
all were clustered the artisans and the laborei-s wdiose ser- 
vices were needed to complete the circle of toil. Few men, 
or even women, in the early period, were without some 
laborious pursuit ; few, as wealth increased and individuals 
grew to be above the necessity of labor, laid aside industry 
altogether. In one light, the entire people is seen exerting 
itself to im})rove the soil, to build up the dwelling, to enlarge 
the hmits of commerce, of trade, and of manufacture. How 
successful these exertions were, appeal's from the steady 
growth of" the colonies in resources and in possessions. 

(1.56) 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT. 157 

Of habits The habits of the colonists were long of the sim- 
oi lite. pjgg|. nature. Little space for liberality or for lux- 
ury could be found in a new land crowded with its ever- 
recurring demands for sobriety and for self-denial. Wher- 
ever men lived, in the little knot of cottages that was called 
a town, in the scattered villages of the country, in the iso- 
lated posts of the frontier, they had a narrow life befbi-e 
them. Afterwards things changed, and in many a spacious" 
enclosure there arose dwellings of greater comfort and of 
greater pretension. As the strict rules of the primitive 
period were loosened, there was also more frequent and 
more genial intercourse amongst men and amongst women. 
Without falHng into extravagance, the wealthy tbund new 
objects of expenditure. Without yielding to idleness, the 
poorer classes found new means of relaxation. The change 
was for the better, physically and mentally. It relieved the 
nerves that had been tightly strung. It enlarged the inter- 
ests that had been closely confined. If it did away with 
the primitive simplicity, it also did away with the primitive 
ruggedness of hfe. Time was gained for thought, for cul- 
ture, for expansion. 

Ofeduca- The sourccs of education had been opened at an 
tion. early period. The first laws of Massachusetts pro- 
vided for the schoolmaster and the school, each township of 
fifly families being bound to maintain a teacher of reading 
and writing, while each of a hundred families was called 
upon to set up a grammar school, (1645-47.) The exam- 
ple was generally imitated throughout New England. 
Some of the central colonies were equally on the alert, 
Pennsylvania, especiall}^ making provision from the first for 
public schools, (1685-89.) Maryland was much later in 
the field, proposing schools long before she established them, 
and la}Ting them, when established, under the restriction of 
being taught only by members of the church of England, 
14 



158 I'Aia 11. iOoS-i7G3. 

(1723.) The POutluTn colonics wt-ro mo-tly Ix-liindliand 
in the matter of education. Soutli Carolina was anu)n«:st 
the eiirliest to organize public schools, (1721 ;) hut these, 
like the schools of almost all the country, were of a very 
limited desi;;n. Private instruction hr'iu^ preferred l»y the 
richer colonists, the schools were leit to the middle and 
lower classes, whose inUnvst was not strong enough lo su})- 
port them. 

The patronage of the upper classes t*n-ned to the 
^""*"''''" colleges which began witii Harvard, in Massachu- 
setts. Virginia, after depending upon a Latin school at 
New AmsUM-dam, bestirred herself to have a seminary of 
her own. At the instance of the Bishop of London's com- 
missary, — tlie ecclesiastical head of the province, — James 
lilair, tlie long-slee})ing project of a college was revived. 
Til'! aid of the king was invoked ; and he granted a charter, 
witii donations in money and lands, to create a c()rj)oration, 
whose chief charge it should be to provide instruction for 
such as proposed to take orders in the established church. 
A department was also to be organized for the education of 
Indians. The royal names of William and Mary, then king 
and queen, were bestowed upon the rising institution, 
(1001.) Connecticut soon hiul her Yale College, (1700 ;) 
N(;w Jersey her College of New Jersey, (1738-46;) New 
York her King's College, (1754;) and Pennsylvania her 
Academy, (1750,) afterwards the University of Pennsyl- 
vania. These institutions became the centres of (piite an 
amount of int(dl<'ctual activity. 

Of the The printing press had long l)een at work. The 

press. ^j.,(. ^ |_,p ^f.j yp ^^..^j, .^^ Cambridge in Massachu- 
setts, (1G39.) But it was under so nuich restraint tiiat it 
can hardly be said to have exerted any general inlhience. 
Tlie importation of books was under similar hinderance^, 
certain ^olumes being abs(dut«'ly prohibited, (1G54.) Not- 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT. 159 

withstanding, the trade seemed to flourish, there soon being 
as many as four bookstores in Boston, while hbraries were 
gathering on a small scale, (1686.) The first newspaper 
of the colonies was a diminutive sheet, issued once a week, 
under the title of the Boston News Letter, (1704.) No other 
press kept pace with that of Massaehusetts. The royal 
governor of Virginia, Sir William Berkeley, made it a boast 
that under him " there are no free schools nor printing.'* 
" God keep us," he profanely added, " from both ! " (1671.) 
Not many years after, the owner of a press introduced into 
the colony was bound over to make no use of it until the 
royal pleasure could be consulted. The royal pleasure 
turned out to be, that the press and its proprietor should 
leave Virginia, (1682-83.) 

Official in- The increasing activity of the press is proved by 
terfereuce. nothing more clearly than the continued interfer- 
ence to wdiich it was subject from the colonial officials. In 
time, the governors of the royal provinces were regularly 
instructed to allow no printing without their special license, 
(1702.) It was virtually the same in all the colonies. In 
Pennsylvania, a printer was called to account for one of his 
publications in such a way as to suggest a retreat to New 
York, (1692.) Tliirty years subsequently, the publisher of 
the Philadelphia Mercury, the only newspaper out of Bos- 
ton, was obliged to apologize for an article displeasing to 
the governor and the council, (1722.) "I'll have no print- 
ing of your address," says Governor Shute of Massachu- 
setts to the House of Representatives, on their remonstrating 
against his proceedings ; " the press is under my control.'* 
But he did not succeed in preventing the printing, or even 
in bringing the printers to trial, (1719.) It was not because 
the Massachusetts press was free. On the contrary, within 
a very few years, Benjamin Franklin, then a boy of seven- 
teen, was admonished by a joint committee of the council 



160 r\!;'i' 11. ir.is -17C3. 

and (ho Iiourp tor certain nrticl<':< of his in lii.'? brother 
Jjiin«'s's pMjXT, th<' New Kiii^hind Courimt, fJanie> himself 
hciiiLT thrown into jail lor a month in conscqui^ncc of having 
allowed lien's animadversions upon " relijjions hy|)oerisy," 
(1723.) Coshy, jrovernor of Ne-w York, went llirther than 
Shutt* against the iVeedom of the press. His council, with 
w'h(nn he was having a violent dispute, took to a newspa- 
per, the Weekly Journal, of which John Peter Zenger was 
th<* pnhlisher. The governor, although he had his organ in 
the New York Gazette, determined that the council should 
be deprived of theirs, and that Zenger should be punished. 
Aft<'r an imprisonment of eight months, Zeiiger was tried 
for libel, and escaped condemnation only by the exertions of 
liis counsel, Andrew Hamilton, of Pennsylvania. The little 
symi)athy that there was with Zenger on the score of a free 
press may be conceived from the fact that, though acquit- 
ted, he Mas l(ift to Ix-ar the losses of his iniprisonment, 
(1732-33.) 

Editions of It wjus a Striking proof of advancing energies 
ti.u Bihic. ^Yiat the' J5ost-on press gave in issuing an edition of 
the Bible, the privik'ge of printing the English version 
being a monojjoly of the Universities of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge. The Boston edition bore the imprint of the king's 
printer in London, (about 1752.) A German Bible had 
been already print<id in Germantown, Pennsylvania, (1743.) 
iiit-u.^c- '^'''*^' i^tc'llt^-x^tual development of the colonies was 
tiiiii (le- altogether of a grave cast. To trace it in action, 
iiniit: in we are obliged to follow the men of the time into 
lution. circumstances where exertion, anxiety, and devour- 
ing care exclude all lighter aspects. We seldom find the* 
graceful mind or the s|>oiiive sj)irit ; it is all solemn delib- 
eration, weighty argument, the natural methods of dealing 
with subjects so serious and relations so momentous as 
those in which the colojiists were involved. 



COLONIAL DEVELOrMENT. IGl 

111 litera- Pass from men of action to men of contemplation, 
*"^^'- and the same signs appear. The primitive writings 
treat of matters of Hfe and death to their authors. Whether 
it is the chronicler, like Governor Bradford, of Plymouth, 
or the traveller, like John Lederer, in Virginia, each 
wears a sober countenance and tells a sober story. If we 
penetrate into the mazes of witchcraft literature, as much 
of the early New England writings may be styled, we find 
that what look to us like the w^ildest hallucinations then ap- 
peared the sternest facts. Imagination, it is true, had much 
to do with them ; but it was imagination excited to that 
degree in Avhicli the unreal seems more true than the real. 
At a later time, the colonial literature assumed ligliter 
forms. There were writers of travels, of essays, even of 
poems, to some of which we shall presently advert. But 
the chief men of letters were still of grave mien ; indeed, 
tliere was hardly one out of the clerical ranks. The influ- 
ence of clergymen upon literature as upon life was very 
sensible for many years beyond the period of which we 
treat. At the head, perhaps, of the colonial writers, was the 
theologian and the metaphysician Jonathan Edwards, a 
native of Connecticut and a minister of Western Massachu- 
setts, Avhose treatise on the Liberty of the Will reads like a 
plea for all the gravity of learning as well as for all the 
severity of dogma then vanishing away. 
In sci- Science found its earnest votaries. There was 

'^"^'''- one, indeed, whose inquiries were so resolute and so 
brilliant as to throw lustre over the whole country. Benja- 
min Franklin, a student and a writer from his early youth, 
at the same time that he was a hard-A\'orking printer, solved 
the mysteries of the thunder cloud, into which, frequently 
as it appeared, science had not then actually penetrated, 
(1752.) Nor v,ere his electrical discoveries the only re- 
sults of his scientific attainments. A sometime neighbor of 
14* 



1G2 PAirr n. 1038-1703. 

Franklin, Jolin I'artnun, of Pennsylvania, ^vhom tlio ^rroat 
Tiiinin'us called 'Mlif first natiiial Indanist in tlie world." 
Ava> the (•reat(»r of a Ixttaiiie *rardeii near l*liilad(dj)liia, and 
at tlie same time tlie explorer of the whole eonntry tVom 
Canada to Florida, (17ol-r.r».) His son, AVilliam Bar- 
tram, eontinned the work hcLnni hy the father, leavinp: an 
aceount of his ow!j jonrneyin^s a>^ fall of freshness as thft 
forests an«l the plains which he exj)lored. Another hranch 
of sci<'nce was nohly cnlti\ated hy John Winthiop, a de- 
scendant of the jMas-achiisetts fjovernor, who occn[)ied the 
chair of mathematics and natural philosophy at Harvard 
College. His astronomical ohservations, continued for many 
years,. (1740-7'.),) enlarired the sphere of knowled^n^ in 
Europe as well as in America. 

Art, even in its lower forms, was hardly recog- 
nized. The dramatic exhibitions, attempted at a 
lat(^ day in Boston, were instantly interrupted by the Puri- 
tan authorities, (1741).) In the towns and colonies more 
tolerant of amusement, there was nothing better than a 
strolling company, which wa> ol)liir<'d to wander in turn 
from Newport to Williamsburg, (1752.) The first dramatic 
composition of the country was the Prince of Parthia, 
(17.'>'),) a tragedy by Thomas Godfrey, a native of Phila- 
(lelpliiii, who<e poetic aspirations were much more success- 
ful than those of his countrymen before him. A few nui- 
sical instruments, a piece or two of ordinary sculj)ture,, a 
larger ])i()porti()n of paintings, might be found in the more 
relined mansions. The iirst organ for a church encountered 
so great opj)osition in Boston that it remained unj)acked for 
several months after its arrival from England, (171'J.) 
Thirty years afterwards, an organ of considerable excellence 
wa-; constructed in lioston itself by Edward liromlield, 
(17 1.").) The nnisical })ublications of the [)eriod, beginning 
with " The Cantus or Trebles of twenty-eight Psalms," 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT. 163 

under the supervision of Rev. John Tufts, of Newbury, 
(1710,) were chiefly conlined to psahiaody. Portrait paint- 
ers were making: their appearance; the first two, Watson 
and Smybert, being both from Scotland. John Singleton 
Copley, a native of Boston, and, Benjamin West, a native 
of Springfield, in Pennsylvania, gave better promise of the 
art that was yet to walk in beauty through the nation. 
j^^^_^^^^^ The intellectual progress of the colonies was 
ces from sensibly affected by influences from abroad. Not 
merely that the literature, the science and the art of 
other countries were within the reach of the new people, 
but that they were actually brought to its door, so to speak, 
by sojourners from beyond the sea. An English naturalist, 
Mark Catesby, was a visitor to Virginia and South Caro- 
lina, (1712-22.) A Swedish man of letters, Peter Kalm, 
travelled through all the central colonies, (1748-51.) His 
name still dwells amongst us in the hcdmia, a genus of 
plants embracing our beautiful mountain laurel. A group 
of clerical visitors came at about the same time. Georore 
Berkeley, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, spent some years 
(1729-31) at Newport, spreading around him the influences 
of a cultivated and a devout spirit. He tarried there on 
the way to the Bermudas, where he hoped m vain to found 
a college for the youth, Indian and English, of America. 
Georgia was visited by the Wesley s, John and Charles, 
(1736-37,) then just entering upon their efforts as reform- 
ers in the English church. George Whitefield, at first the 
churchman and then the sectary, traversed the whole land 
from north to south ; his appeals to the people resulting in 
revivals, as the phrase went, which were repeated until the 
charm began to lose its power, but not before it had greatly 
loosened the hold of ancient doctrines, (1738-70.) 
Liberality Of all the progrcss that we have to notice, no 
in religion. pQ^j^t is more remarkable tiian the increasing lib- 



IGi I'AKT II. 1(;3H-17C3. 

erality in roliirion. It was l)('<rinninj; to be soon that men 
miirlit l)(* iMIow-Cliristians wiilioul \h'iu<i iellow'-churclnncn 
or tVll()\v-Piiriian>. Dissenters tonnd toleration in tin- 
elnircli-i>i*()vince of Virtrinia, (lOlJS.) On tin? other hand, 
tilt' Puritan cliurchcs niadc peace with their antagonists. 
Cotton Mather, pn'achin<z; at the ordination of a l^aptist, 
expresses " onr dislike of every thing which looked like per- 
secution in th«' days that have passed over us," (1718.) 
ClnirehnuMi in Massachusetts were released from Puritan 
tithes. (1727.) Baptists and (Quakers were both released 
from the same tithes in ^lassachusetts, (1728,) New Hamp- 
shire, (17211,) and Connecticut, (172'J,) the last colony, 
howr'ver, continuing the restrictions ui)on separate places of 
"worship. Even the Roman Catholics luul their crund» of 
toleration. On their celebrating mass in Philadelphia, the 
governor proposed to enforce the penalties of the English, 
not the Pennsylvanian, law against them ; but the council 
opposed the proceeding, on the gronml that the Roman 
Catholics were protected in the charier of the colony, 
(1731.) The air seems to grow freer as we meet with such 
a record. But it was not yet purified. Charles Carroll, a 
Roman Catholic of Maryland, found himself so hemmed in 
by illiberality, that he petitioned the French government 
for a grant in Louisiana, (17.'>I.) 

Church of '!'''<' cluu-ch of England — the moderate <'hur<'li 
Eii-iaiui. of the reformation — was the mean, as formei-ly de- 
scribed, between the extremes of tlu; Roman am' the Prot- 
estant sides. But, as the Roman church was hardly repre- 
sented in the colonies, the church of England appeared to 
occupy, not so much a mean as an extreme position, th(> 
opposite to the extreme of Puritanism. It wa.s, thenjfore, 
the great foe of Puritanism, just as Puritanism was its 
great foe. Both the cinirchman and the Puritan foinul ii 
hard to bear and t(; forbear with each other, the more, so as 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT. 165 

the church of England increased, and assumed the lead. 
John Checkley, })reparing to be a church missionary, threw 
the Puritan clergy of Boston into quite an excitement, by 
taking upon himself to say that there could be " no Chris- 
tian minister without episcopal ordination," (1724.) So, 
when the Massachusetts ministers, headed by Cotton Mather, 
petitioned the General Court that a synod of their churches 
might be convened, as in former days, the church clergy 
appealed to England for the suppression of the proposed 
assembly, (1725.) It was not merely ill will that these 
proceedings kindled ; it was apprehension of oppression. 
Project of Dissenters generally, but with the Puritans still 
birfhops. jjj ^i^g yg^jj^ stood arrayed against a project in which 
the church of England -was deeply interested. As early as 
the reign of Charles II., a bishop for Virginia had been 
nominated at the instigation of the prime minister Claren- 
don, (1672.) It proved merely a nomination. Thirty 
years passed, when the Society for Propagating the Gospel 
in Foreign Parts (1701) took up the matter, partly in con- 
sequence of applications from the churchmen of the colonies, 
(1703.) It was twelve years more before the society, after 
petitions to and answers from Queen Anne, undertook " a 
draught of a bill, proper to be offered to the Parliament, 
for establishing bishops and bishoprics in America," (1715.) 
The queen's death mterfering with the execution of these 
projects, they were laid aside, resumed, and then laid aside 
again until some of the English prelates, members of the 
society still, espoused the cause so full of interest to them 
and to their church. Their plan, drawn up by Bishop 
Butler, of Durham, was not one, it would seem, to provoke 
opposition. It suggested the limitation of the ej^iscopal 
po^ver to the clergy in orders, declaring, at the same time, 
that " no bishops are intended to be settled in places where 
the government is in the hands of dissenters, as in New 



IGG PAKT II. ir,;]H-l7r.3. 

Engljind," &,i'. Sucli, however, were the (lifficulties attend- 
ing the seh(Mne, even in this moditied form, that it failed, 
(I7oO.) Its advocates, joined or succeeded by others, did 
not give up the liope of ciuTying their point at a future 
time. But the passions of tlie colonists, as w(dl from politi- 
cal as from religious causes, ran too high to admit of further 
provocation. Nor were dissenters only arrayed against the 
l)lan of the e})iscopate. Churchmen were almost ecjually 
earnest, on account, chiefly, of the jealousy entertained in 
relation to the mother country. JSo that when, at a later 
time, the Bishop of London's commissary for Virginia 
called a convention of his clergy, to discuss an address to 
the king, " upon an American episcoi)ate," certain clergy- 
men, who protested against the pro})osal, received the 
thanks of the House of Burgesses for tlieir course, (1771.) 
The clergy of Virginia, however, and the Burgesses had 
long been on poor terms, in consequence of certain acts 
passed by the latter to the detriment of clerical revenues, 
indeed, to the violation of clerical rights, (1755-58.) The 
church of England, it must be confessed, wis far from being 
a church of pe^ice in the colonies. 

Classes: Thc classcs in the colonies rem.'iined the same as 
*''^'**''^^^- heretofore. But the relations between them were 
varying with their members and their numbers. Amongst 
the echoes from those distant years we catch the sounds of 
sympathy for the enslaved. Some German, not English, 
Quakers of Pennsylvania began by declaring against the 
■whole system of slavery, (1688.) An English Quaker of 
the same colony was stirred to make the same declaration ; 
but his remonstrance was mingled with fanaticism and sedi- 
tion, (1002.) A few y<'ars later, Pennsylvania ])ronouneed 
against the importation of Indian bondmen, (170';.) Mas- 
sachusetts ])assed a similar j)rohil)iti()n, (1712.) But when 
Pennsylvania, or a [)ortion of its p<'o})Ie, [x'titioned for 



COLONIAL DEVELOPMENT 167 

the general emancipation of the slaves in the province, the 
assembly rejected the proposal, (1712.) The slaves did 
not every where sit still while the masters legislated. New 
York was thrown into terror by a negro plot to fire the 
city, (1712.) South Carolina was twice threatened by a 
negro massacre, (1730, 1738.) It was not to be expected, 
with all the advantages or all the alleviations of slavery in 
the English colonies, that the system was to escape the 
dangers and the wrongs to which it had led in every land 
and in every age of its history. One earnest voice was 
lifted up against it in the colonies by John Woolman, of 
New Jersey, a Quaker of singular refinement as well as 
singular simplicity, who published Some Considerations 
on the Keeping of Negroes, towards the close of the pe- 
riod, (1753.) Woolman's Journal of his life and his devo- 
tions should be mentioned as one of the most attractive 
works in our early hterature. 

Colonies: Bctwccn colony and colony there were new bands 
union, ^f m^ion. Suggestions of combining them in some 
common organization had appeared from time to time. 
The first project of the sort, on the part of the colonies, 
was of William Penn's proposal. He urged a congress of 
twenty members, to be elected by the colonial assemblies, 
with a president appointed by the king. This body was to 
keep the peace amongst the colonies, to regulate their com- 
merce, and to secure their defence, (1 697.) A quarter of a 
century later, Daniel Coxe, of New Jersey, brought forward 
a plan of much the same nature, (1722.) Thirty years 
later, the deputies of seven colonies — the four of New 
England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland — met 
at Albany on the recommendation of the secretary of state 
in England, (1754.) The subjects before this assembly 
were the relations of the colonies with the Indians and vs^ith 
one another, referring chiefly to the war then opening 
between England d,nd France. It was to promote the mil- 



Ki-S VMii 11. i(;;;s-i7(i;j. 

itary ratli<T than flic civil union of the colonio^), that "Ronja- 
niin Franklin, a deputy from Pennsylvania, laid his pro- 
posals before the convention. He sui:iii'sl«'d a coiuicil of 
foity-ei*;!!!, apportioned to tlie contrihulions of eaeh colony, 
who were to conduct the alfairs of war, and, to a certain 
extent, the affairs of peace ; the members, chosen for three 
years, by the colonial assemblies, to elect their own speaker, 
but to be under a president, or «]^overnor general, nominated 
by the crown. This system suited neither those who fa\ ored 
nor those who opposed the interests of the colonies, the ap- 
pointing power and the veto, with which the president was 
armed, being deemed as unfavorable to colonial liberty as 
the rights of the council were to royal prerogative. It was 
at the same time that the king commanded one of his min- 
isters, the Earl of Halifax, to prepare a plan of colonial 
union. Each colony was to elect, by common consent of 
assembly, council, and governor, a single commissioner to 
a federal body, by which a revenue was to be raised and 
the general di.'fence assured. A commander-in-ehief was 
to be [)laced at the head of the government, which, as we 
see, was a merely military organization. Union was not 
to be achieved by a fluctuating succession of projects like 
these. 

Coiitribu- '^^^^ sympathy existing amongst the colonies ap- 
tions to pears on another record than that of systems or 
assemblies. A great fire, breaking out in Bosti^n, 
caused immense loss and immense distress, (1760.) What 
Boston itself could do was promptly done ; its people were 
not in the habit of giving up, however severe the trial. 
But there came a large sum from New York, another from 
Pennsylvania, besides one from Nova Scotia, and va riot is 
subscriptions from England. Tlu^ colonial contributions to 
Boston })roved that tJK're were bonds, if not yet drawn 
together, >lill ca))a]>le of being tightened, closely juid la>t- 
ingly, amongst the colonies. 



Views 



CHAPTER X. 

The Mother Country. 

As the colonies passed through the struggles of 
of tJiJ infancy into the promises of manhood, they wore a 
mother j^^^ ^^^^ jj-^ ^j-^^ --^^ ^f ^.j^^ mother country. Some- 
country, ° -^ 

thing more than had been anticipated was to be 

hoped, something more also was to be feared from them. It 
seemed as if they might be able to contribute largely to the 
resources of the mother-land ; and yet it seemed as if they 
might think themselves able to withhold as well as to con- 
tribute. Strange symptoms of insubordination had appeared. 
The crown, the parliament, and the officials by which both 
were represented, had been confronted, here and there, witli 
amazing boldness. It was high time, so thought the English 
rulers, to take the colonies in hand, to tighten the reins of 
government, and to confine them to the course marked out, 
as it was thought, by the interests of the mother country. 
Board of Chief of the agencies put in oj^eration was the 
trade. board of trade, consisting of a president and seven 
members, entitled the Lords Commissioners for Trade and 
Plantations, (1696.) To tliis body were committed the 
functions hitherto exercised by committees of the privy 
council, but now magnified into large powers of administra- 
tion. It was intrusted with the execution of the navigation 
acts, to which were at this time appended fresh and oppres- 
sive provisions of colonial Courts of Admiralty. It was also 
empowered to carry out the new acts by which not merely 
15 (16fl) 



170 PART IT. l(;:;s-i7fn. 

the trade hut the administration of the eoloni'^? wai? to be 
brouirht under strictrr control. Tlie royal approval of all 
colonial jrovcrnois, and the conformity of ail ttilonial laws 
to the stiitutes of Parliament, were amongst tliclir>t steps to 
be taken. The board entered heartily into its mission. It 
proj)os<'d the appointment of a cxiptiiin gencial with aliso- 
lute power to levy and to organize an army without n-frr- 
ence to any colonial authority, (UVJ7.) It laid a prohihition 
upon the exportation of colonial W(X)llens, even from one 
colony to another, (1G'J8.) It actually went so tar as to rec- 
ommend the resumption of the charters that remained to 
some of the colonies, (17Ul.) Time and again, a bill was 
brought into Parhament to declare the charters void; but, 
for one reason or another, the design was postponed. The 
board of trade, approving itself by its zeal, became a sort of 
ministerial body on being attiiched to a secretary of state as 
its chief, (1714.) Its course, however, was not improved. 
The secretary longest in olfice (1721:-48) — the Duke of 
Newcastle — supposed New England to bean island. The 
board of trade acted as if they thought all the colonies a 
broken cluster off the British coast. 

xfnam About the same time that the board of trade was 
Company, organized, the Royal African Company, previously 
a monopoly, was so enlarged as to allow general participa- 
tion in its operations. What these were appears from its 
name. But the name gives no indication of the near con- 
nection of the company with the American colonies, of 
their restiveness, and of its oppressiveness. " Give due 
encouragement," say the royal instructions of Queen Anne 
to the govei-nor of New York and New^ JtM-sey, '* to mer- 
chants, and, in particulai', to the Royal African Company," 
(1702.) "The slave trade," reechoes Parliament, half a 
century afterwards, in making the trad(* independent of the 
Afri<-an Company, "is very advantageous to Great Britain," 



THE MOTHER COUNTRY. 171 

(1750.) It was, in fact, a cardinal point in the treaties of 
England with the European powers. The treaty of Utrecht 
contained a contract on the part of Spain that her colonies 
should be provided with slaves by Great Britain alone, 
(1713.) The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was followed by a 
convention indemnifying Great J^ritain, to the amount of a 
hundred thousand pounds, for relinquishing the monopoly 
of the slave trade with the Spanish colonies, (1750.) The 
closer was the gripe upon the English colonies. Vainly 
did Virginia and South Carolina, for instance, lay a prohib- 
itory duty upon the importation of slaves ; their acts were 
annulled by the royal command. And by what reasoning, 
it will be asked, were the advantages of the traffic upheld 
in the mother country? The answer is simple. In the 
first place, the profits of the African Company and of the 
private slave tradej-s were enormous. In the second place, 
the dependence of the colonists in agriculture, manufacture, 
and trade, as well as in government, was assured, so long 
as they were kept to slave labor. This was openly avowed 
in England ; so that, resist as they would, the colonies were 
at the mercy of the Royal African Company as long as it 
endured. 

Colonial ^^^ boards and companies of the mother country 
govern- found congenial instruments in the governors of the 
various colonies. All but those whom the colonists 
were able to elect for themselves, as in Connecticut and 
Rhode Island, may be said, as a general remark, to have 
been the main stays of the policy pursued by the EngHsh 
authorities. A needier, gi-eedier set of men was never sent 
forth to rule than the spendthrift courtiers, the broken- 
down officials, and the cringing colonists, who successively 
appeared in the scramble after colonial spoils. 

An illustration offers itself in the career of Edward 
Hyde, Lord Cornbury, grandson of the great Earl of Clar- 



172 PART II. 1C38-17G3. 

Cornhnrv ^^'^^^' ^^'^ (•()u>in U) Qiioon Aiino, by whnm ho was 
iiiN«w apiioiiilrtl jjovcrnor of Nrw York, (17U2.) His 

York . \ / 

arrival was irrrctrd with (1« h^zht by a faction thru 
siitfcriii^ iroin the rcacticjii conscMjuent upon L('i>h'r's cruel 
fal<', tni years before. The party opposed to Leisler and 
his adiien'iits, now ^'ettini^ tlie nj)per hand, xotcd an enthu- 
siastic ^rant to his h)rdsliip tlie governor, and doubled ills 
salary besides. He was not content<'d; but, on the vote of 
a hirge sum, in the ensuing year, for the fortilication of the 
NaiTows, h(^ appropriated it to himself without leave or 
license. This drove the assembly to insist upon having a 
treasurer of its own — a demand that was afterwards allowed 
by the queen, (170').) Cornbury became more and more 
odious to those who had welcomed him with rapturous 
obedience. (Jne assembly after another was dissolved for 
not meeting his multiplied reciuisitions. Two Presbyterian 
missionaries from England were ])rosecuted by him on no 
other charge than their creed, ]»ut were triumphantly ac- 
quitted by the jury, (17(>7.) His course was nmch the 
same in New Jersey, then under the 2Vew York governor, 
where, after violent assaults upon the i)olitical and religious 
privileges of the colony, he was met face to iace in the 
assembly by charges of oppression and corruption, (1707.) 
Such proceedings as Cornbury's were too wanton to be tol- 
erated even in England. He was recalled, but without any 
other amends besides the recall, for the indignities from 
which New Y'ork and New Jersey had suffered during 
seven bitter years, (1700.) 

Burnet Somo yoars pass, and the then governor of New 
and Y^ork, Colonel Cosby, complains to the board of 

Belcher 

in Massa- trade of " the example of the Boston people," 
chusotts. ^1732.) With his views and with the views of the 
board there was ample motive for complaint. William 
Burnet, Ibrmerly governor of New York, now of Massa- 



THE MOTHER COUNTRY. 173 

chusetts, had made it a point, from his first entrance upon 
his new government, to obtain a permanent salary, (1728.) 
The House of Representatives would not hear of such a 
thing, much preferring their usual mode of a yearly vote. 
This the governor scorned, and hinted at the loss of the 
charter in case he was denied his wilL A town meeting 
of the Bostonians sustained the house with so much effect 
that Burnet held the next General Court at Salem. Bos- 
ton is the proper place for our sessions, declared the sturdy 
representatives. " Then meet in Cambridge the next time," 
rejoined the governor, (1729.) Burnet dying, one of the 
agents sent to complain of him in England, Jonathan 
Belcher, was appointed his successor. But the colonist was 
soon involved in the same disputes as the Englishman, both, 
in the present case, obeying instructions rather than follow- 
ing their own desires. After a two years' controversy, 
Belcher obtained leave from England to accept a salary for 
the year, (1731.) Even this was cut off, on his opposing, 
as he was instructed to do, the further issue of paper money, 
already a sore subject in Massachusetts. Belcher wrote to 
the board of trade that a crisis was at hand. The house, 
on the other side, wrote to request the king to recall the 
governor's instructions, (1732.) On the king's refusal, the 
agents of the house made the same request to Parliament. 
" This is a high insult," replied that body, " upon his majes- 
ty's government, and tending to shake off the dependency 
of the colonies," (1733.) The House of Representatives 
restored the salaries which it had suspended; but some 
fresh disputes arising, the removal of Belcher was asked 
for and obtained, (1740.) 

Clinton's A few years later, and Governor Clinton of New 
appeal, York, failing to obtain a grant for five yeai^, ap- 
pealed to the secretary at the head of the board of trade 
" to make a good example for all America," (1748.) What 
15* 



171 TAKT II. 1G38-I7r,3. 

h\< idoa ^vn^5, n])p('anMl more cloarly whon ho horrrroi] thnt 
Parliament would inijio.-r certain taxes to |)ro\i<le "tlie 
civil li>t," (17.'><>,) It was tlie natural rcHilt of the «'\a.*- 
tions ami the clamors of the previous half century, lint 
oven before the half century be^ran, Clinton's ap|>eal had 
been anticij)aled by a scheme, of parliamentary taxation, 
bi-ought t<)rward at tlui time when the b(jard of trad(* was 
entering u])on its oai*eer, (lO'Jdf) 

Meantime Parliament liad not left the admini??- 
in.Mi'ta.y tratioH of the colonies entirely in other hands. It 
intirfir- extended the iiost oHiee of Great Britain to Amer- 
ica, (17in.) It regulated the system oi naturaliza- 
tion, until then dilfv'rent in the different colonies, by recpiii-- 
ing a probation of seven years, and an oath of allegiance, 
together Avith the profession of some form of Protestantism, 
(17 10.) It interfered witli questions of currency and of 
banking,* in which, indeed, the colonies had got liu* beyond 
their depth, (171()-r)l.) 

Coninicr- -^^^ ^^^*' while. Parliament maintained its anllior- 
ciai ruk«. jfy Qy(^.,. |],p colonial trade. Never, in truth, had it 
gone so far as when it passed what was called the "molasses 
act," laying duties on molasses, sugar, and rum im})orted 
from any but the British West India Islands, (173:3.) "It 
is divesting the colonists," said the agent of New York in 
England, "of theii- rights as the king's natural born sub- 
jects and Englishmen, in levying subsidies upon them 
against their consent." Parliament was also extending its 
interference with manufactures in the colonies. It crowned 
its acts on this score by prohibiting the exportation of hats, 
(1732,) and the erection of mills for slitting or rolling iron, 
and of furnaces for making steel, (17")0.) The comm«'r- 

♦ It was the way ^^■ith most of the colonics, hcj^inuing with South 
Carolina, (1712,) to issue bills wliich were loaned to individuals as a 
bono'.vcd capital. 



THE MOTHER COUNTRY. 175 

cial rule, commenced by the na,vigatIon acts of a century 
before, was thus approaching its completion. 
Military Another rule was beginning to appear. The 
rule. wars in which the colonies were involved led to 
their subordination beneath the military and naval com- 
manders of the mother country. It was inevitable that 
the English officers should assume a superiority, which 
would be felt, not merely in the field, but in the town — not 
merely amongst the soldiers, but amongst the citizens of 
the colonies. 

Impress- Wild work was that which Commodore Knowles 
nient at made in undertaking to fill up his fleet by the im- 
pressment of Bostonians. The people seized his 
officers who happened to be on shore, and, retaining them 
as hostages, took such an attitude of fury and of strength, 
that Governor Shirley withdrew to the Castle in the harbor. 
Knowles threatened the bombardment of the town. The 
upper classes, through their representatives in the house, 
and in a town meeting of their own, abjured all connection 
with the so-called populace. But they who had risen for 
the sake of saving their brothers and their neighbors from 
outrage, though wholly deserted, were not wholly unsuc- 
cessful. The greater part of the men who had been 
pressed were surrendered by the commodore, and peace 
ensued. Yet there was more parade at the return of the 
governor than at the rescue of the artisans and the sailors 
of the town from their captivity, (1747.) 
A com- Clouds were gathering heavy with menace and 
mander- with ruiu. An Order went forth from the board 
of the of trade to the colonial governoi-s, directing them 
colonies. ^^ raise a fund for the general expenses of the 
colonies, then driving, with the mother country, into the 
fiercest of the wars with France. At the same time, the 
mutiny act, providing for the discipline and the quarters 



17() pm:t II. ir.s-iTG'i. 

of the Eni:ll>li army, wa-; rxlnulccl to tlif coloiilr-:, (17'>1.) 
Tlic next yrnr ( l^''-'') l'roii.i:lit u\crilic I'.arl of Loiidoini, 
•lovtTiior of Vir;iinia, and (■oniinamlfr-in-rliicf of tin- wliolc 
tliirteen. As tlic p-ncial fund to suj)j)orl his authority did 
not apjirar, Parliaiiirnt aildrox-d the colonial a:?seinl)lies 
with tli«^ assertion tliat " tiic idaini of rigiit in an assembly 
to raise and apply i)ublic money by its ^\vn act alone is 
derogatory to the crown and to the rights of the people of 
Great Britain," (1757.) Both the property and the free- 
dom of the colonists were thus involved in the establish- 
ment of a military rule. 

Ju.Uciiii '^^^^ signs were dark in all directions. Most of 
uuure. ii^p. colonial judges had long been appointed by the 
crown, or by its re})resentatives the governors ; but once 
appointed, they were indei)endent, as they h('ld office dur- 
ing good behavior. But Chief Justice Pratt, of New 
York, received a commission to continue only '' at the 
king's pleasure." In vain he remonstrated with the gov- 
ernor of the ])rovince ; in vain the governor supported the 
remonstrance in an ap()eal to the board of trade. "Your 
good b«'liavior," answered the board, '' is a pernicious prop- 
osition." So the secretary at the head of the boai'd main- 
tained, in instructing the colonial governors to issue no 
c(jmmissions ''but during pleasure." All this was stranger 
and more threatening than any previous act of the j)owers 
in England. New York showed its sense of the danger 
by refusing any salary to the chief justice. He, however, 
procured I'rom the board of trade a grant, to be paid out 
of the royal (piitrents of the province, (17()1-G2.) 

... ., ^ AVith all tile game now in view, the authorities 
M nts of '^ 

as^i.st- still Stuck to their '' acts of trade." Fiancis Ber- 

auce. Ill /'XT 1 1 

nanl, lately governor ot iSew .Jersey, and at present 

of Massaciujsett.-. had l)ut just assurcil the latter colony of 

the "blessings jioiii ilieir >iibjection to Cireat Britain," 



THE MOTHER COUNTRY. 177 

when tliey were thrown into alarm by an application of 
the custom house officials to the Superior Court for writs 
of assistance, authorizing search after merchandise import- 
ed in defiance of the acts of trade. The hearing came on 
before Chief Justice Hutchinson, who was ' also the lieu- 
tenant governor. All that legal skill, as well as official 
influence, could do to obtain the writs, was done ; but the 
counsel whom the Boston merchants had retained stood out 
to the last — Oxenbridge Thacher, " soft and cool ; " James 
Otis, " a flame of fire." " Every man," says one who was 
present, " of an immense crowded audience appeared to 
me to go away as I did, ready to take up arms against 
writs of assistance." Of course, the writs were granted, 
but they were little used, (1761.) The same spirit that 
had resisted them broke out against the schemes of taxa- 
tion with which the acts of trade were now connected. 
" Government," argued James Otis, " must not raise taxes 
on the property of the people without the consent of them 
or their deputies." It was not the plea of the politician 
alone. " I do not say," exclaimed the Boston clergyman 
Jonathan Mayhew, " our invaluable rights have been struck 
at; but if they have, they are not wrested from us," 
(1762.) 

Ensiish It was amidst these controversies that the French 
dominion. ^gj.g conquered, and the English dominion rose to 
its height in America. In the north, it extended over the 
three provinces of St. John's, or Newfoundland, Nova 
Scotia, and Quebec, the new name for Canada. In the 
centre, it embraced the thirteen colonies, in which had lain 
the germ of its present growth. In the south, it compre- 
hended the two provinces of East and West Florida, 
together with a large portion of the West Indies. So 
vast an empire overtopped all other dominions in the 
western world. 



178 I'Altr 11. 1638-17C3. 



Efferts 



Antl now, to mark the .'H'cc'ts of the victories upon 
>n tho the \ iitors. Fir.-l, upon tliL' colonists. They had 
o.iui.i.s. jj.^^^^^.j tiii-on^ii a^'onizing timt'S, ^vh('n losses of 
friends and oi' resources wei^^hed upon almost every house- 
hold, wlini alternations of grief and of revenge racked 
almost every hreast. As a community, Ukewise, each 
• cdony had met its trials and its reverses. Notwithstand- 
iiiLT the niinltursements received from England, the colo- 
nics were in debt to the amount of more than ten million 
dollars, one quarter of which stood against Massachusetts 
alone, at the expiration of the la^t war with France. 
Debts, however, were nothing compared to the diminution 
of the means of paying them, or of gathering new resources. 
The sacrifices of warl'are are not to be measured by any 
single schedule ; roll al'ter roll must be inscribed with 
losses, and even then the losses of the future, if they can 
be calculated, remain to he ai)pended. On the other hand, 
the colonists were not without their compensations. They 
had rid themselves of an enemy whose neighborhood had 
been a constant source of peril, both from French and from 
Indian waHare, for a century and a half, (1G13-17G3.) 
They had i)roved their strength in repeated efforts and 
repeated successes. Better still, they had j)roved their 
union amongst themselves, especially in the final eonllict 
whicli brought every colony of the thirteen shoulder to 
shoulder. Best of all, they had proved their patriotism, 
their love of their own land, hitherto overpowered by the 
artections that bound them to the other side of the sea, but 
now rising in solemn strength from out the battles and the 
agonies by which they had defended their country, and 
made it the first object of their devotion. 

Nt'xt, to tra<-e the etlects of victory upon the 

I p. II the •' *■ 

iiK.tiiLT mtAther country. Here we fmd the marks of sor- 
C"'""''y- j.,,^^. .,,„! ,^|- ,.;il;ji,,ity, l)ut they an- lost in tlic blaze 



THE MOTHER COUNTRY. 179 

of glory which seemed to have been kindled. " England," 
the king is said to have exclaimed, " never signed such a 
}ieace before." The king was George III., then in the 
third year of his 'reign. The aristocracy, still in power, 
thought with the king. They were dazzled by their suc- 
cess. It made them believe that their sway was irresisti- 
ble, that their colonies were to be ruled, burdened, and 
crushed as they pleased. Only a few, of keener vision 
and of truer principle, "saw that the conquest of the French 
colonies, if resulting in the issues to which it seemed to be 
leading, would entail the loss of the English colonies. 

But for the moment, the En owlish of Ensjland 

Tempo- ' » '^ 

rary and the English of America were one. The exul- 
°^ ^" tation of triumph over a common foe, the assurance 
of prosperity under a common king, just risen in his youth 
to the throne, blended with the ties of a common law, a 
common literature, and a common ancestry. New hopes 
for both were appearing in the west. The Indian humbled, 
every race from Europe conquered, the English were the 
undisputed possessors of the far-stretching, the rich-prom- 
ising land. 



PART III 



THE INFANT NATION. 



1763-1797. 



X6 (181) 



CHAPTER I. 

Provocations. 

The old troubles between the mother coimtiy 
bies ex- and the colonies remained. They were now ex- 
' tended. To enforce the commercial rule of Great 
Britain, her fleet upon the American coast was turned into 
a revenue squadron. To keep up the military rule, the 
colonies were organized in divisions, with British command- 
er-in-chief, British officers, and British troops ; in short, a 
standing army. To maintain the whole system, commercial 
and military, the authorities of the mother country soon 
lent themselves to graver measures. 

The great majority of the British people regard- 
in tie ^^ tl^^ American colonists as countrymen, who could 
mother jjot suffcr without their suffering, or prosper without 

country. 

their prospering. But the majority of the people 
was powerless, or comparatively so. The dominion over 
the mother country, as well as over her colonies, was with 
the aristocracy, with men who, whether liberal or not, 
— according to the phrase, — whether whig or tory, were 
of almost one and the same mind in regarding the colonists 
as their subjects. So thought the king, at this time the 
head of the aristocracy rather than the sovereign of the 
nation. So thought the Parliament, at this time the repre- 
sentative assembly of the aristocracy rather than of the 
nation. So thought the successive ministries, the common 
representatives of the king and of the Parliament, to whom 

(183) 



184 PART III. 1763-1797. 

attached the credit or the diserecht of any fxf'nfi*»'il course 
or of any particular measure tliat mij^ht be adopt*!! in the 
councils of Great Britain. Thus it was hut a portion of 
the nation — and this tlu^ smaller, althou;ili the more pow- 
erfid portion — which was prepared to deal rigorously with 
the colonies. 

Vf\v8 ^^ ^^'^ colonies perceived. If they had thanks 

of tiu< to offer for occitNional acts of liberality, they •j^ave 
them to the nation, knowing that in any librral 
measures the nation must be united. IJut if there were 
complaints to make, if there were outcries of indignation 
and agony to utter, the object of them was not the nation. 
The colonies knew that the nation, as a whole, was on 
their side, and that it was the king, the Parliament, or the 
ministry who alone, as a general rule, deserved rej)roach. 
Hence the emphasis upon the word ministerial in relation 
to the system ui)held in Britain, and opposed in America. 
„ . The coh)nies themselves were not a unit. Even 

Parties 

in ttie the old thirteen, with which we are concerned, pre- 
sented by no means an unbroken front. The very 
number of their inhabitants — near two millions (17G3) 
— implied differences and separations. A considerable 
part consisted of slaves and of servants scattered in vary- 
ing proj)ortions amongst the various colonies. Of the free- 
men themselves, a very considerable proportion was more 
accustomed to subjection than to independence. There 
were certainly many who were wholly unfit to defend their 
liberty, many more who were wholly unfit to raise it to a 
position of security. Happily tliere wa- a large and an 
increasing body of men, women, and children, whose na- 
tures and whose principles were of a Iiigher stani}). On 
these the colonies relied as nmch against the weaknesses 
that were within, as against the oppressions that were 
without. Tlie same class was prominent in the pre- 



PROVOCATIONS. 185 

ceding period ; here, more than ever, is it in the fore- 
ground. 

The two Thus, then, in the story of the provocations divid- 
sides. iiig the mother country and the colonies, we have 
not England, not Great Britain, pitted against America, 
but the ruHng class in the mother country opposed to the 
better class in the colonies. The distinction is important. 
Nothing else could explain the amount of blundering on 
one side, or the amount of wisdom, comparatively speaking, 
on the other. Nor could any thing else so clearly indicate 
the difference between the principles at stake — the princi- 
ples of an old aristocracy on the one hand, and on the 
other those of a young commonalty, all fervent with vigor 
and with hope. 

,,. . , . The ministers representing the British side may 
of the be noted in this place. The Earl of Bute, prime 
^°^^" ■ minister at the beginning of the period, (1763,) 
was succeeded by George Grenville in the same year ; 
then by the Marquis of Rockingham, (1765 ;) then by 
William Pitt, made Earl of Chatham, (1766;) then by the 
Duke of Grafton, (1768 ;) and then by Lord North, 
(1770.) The Rockingham and Chatham ministries alone 
were compai-atively liberal, not even these being liberal 
in the true sense of the term. 

p^.^^ England was laboring under the increased debts 

oftaxa- occasioned by the late war with France. It was 
not her part, argued the aristocracy, to bear them 
alone ; they had been incurred, in a great degree, on ac- 
count of the colonies, and the colonies should bear their 
share. The argument proceeded upon a strange forgetful- 
ness of the fact that the colonies were already bearing 
their share, and more than their share, of debts and diffi- 
culties in consequence of the war. Not the less deter- 
mmed to increase the burdens of America, the authorities 
16* 



]8G PART ITT. I7G3-1797. 

in Ennjlarjf! rast iil)ont for the mcjins of acoomplirshinf]; tlioir 
purpose. Then', wiis but one, and this taxation. Now, 
taxation of a (•♦■rtain sort was nothing new to the colonies. 
Tlicy had lou^ l)orne with taxes for the so-called rejjulation 
of trade. But the ministry and their supporters, not con- 
tent witli the old taxes, were for raising new ones — taxes 
for revenu(! as well as for regulation of trade. Substantial- 
ly, there was no ditlerence ; taxes were tax(?s, whether laid 
ujK)n iuij)<)rts or upon any thing else ; but the colonies 
were persuiuled at the time, and for some time after, that 
there was a difference, and a vital one. 
Di-.rM9- When, therefore, Parliament voted, in the begin- 

sion. ning of the year, (17G4,) that it had "a right to 
tax the colonies," im})lying in any way whatever, the colo- 
nies took alarm. The Massachusetts House of Represen- 
tatives ordered a committee of correspondence with the 
other colonies. James Otis, in a pamphlet on the Rights 
of the British Colonies, exclaimed, " that by this [the 
British] constitution, every man in the dominions is a free 
man ; that no part of his majesty's dominions can be taxed 
without their consent." " Tiie l)ook," said Lord 3Iansfield, 
chief justice of the King's Bench, "is full of wildness." 
But it did not satisfy many of the colonists, and wilder 
still, as the chief justice would have said, became their 
iL>sertions of inde))endence. It was not long before the 
right of Parliament to lay any taxes whatsoever wa8 
discussed and denied. 

Sugar I^^'t ^<^^' tl'^ moment, the colonies Avere willing to 

»<^*- bear with taxation under one name, provided it was 

not levied under another. The ministry, however, adopted 
the very style which the colonies disliked, and passed an 
act laying duties upon sugar and other articles of colonial 
import, with the expressed understanding that '' it is just and 
necessary that a rev.enue be raised in America for defray- 



PROVOCATIONS. 187 

ing the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the 
same." In other words, both the commercial and the mili- 
tary sway over the colonies was to be supported and carried 
out by a course of taxation. Thus decided George Gren- 
ville and his party by the sugar act of 17G4:. It was a 
momentous decision. 

stamp The earnest remonstrances of the colonies, es- 

^^- pecially of New York and Rhode Island, produced 
no effect, except to precipitate measures in England. Ten 
months after the sugar act, a series of acts far more deci- 
sive was passed. A stamp act, proposed some time before, 
was enacted without any other serious opposition than that 
of English merchants in the American trade. By this act, 
all business papers and certificates, as well as newspapers, 
required a stamp, similar to that already used in Great 
Britain. At the same time, the jurisdiction of the Admi- 
ralty Court was extended, to the exclusion, therefore, of 
juries in many cases previously brought before them. 
Together with these new burdens upon the colonies, an 
old one was revived in the quartering act, by which 
quarters and various supplies were demanded from the 
colonies for the British trooj^s amongst them. But neither 
the provisions for the troops nor those for the admiralty 
had any significance to be compared with the stamp duties, 
so unwonted and so unbearable, (1765.) 
Resist- They roused the colonies with a general start, 

ance. a Xhis unconstitutional method of taxation," was 
the comment of George Washington, who, for the last six 
years, had been a burgess of Virginia. " That parliamen- 
tary procedure," was the subsequent language of Jonathan 
May hew, of Boston, " which threatened us and our pos- 
terity with perpetual bondage and slavery." Virginia was 
the first to speak out, as a colony, in resolutions proposed 
by Patrick Henry. " Those Virginians," responded Oxen- 



188 r.VKT ITT. 17^.3-1707. 

bridfro Tliachcr, of Massaohusett.s, the associate of Otis in 
oj)l)osing the writs of assistance, — "those Virginians are 
men." The response of Massachusetts, as a colony, was 
the vote of her representatives, on the proi)Osal of James 
Otis, that the colonies should be invited to send committees 
of their representatives or burgesses to meet at New York. 
South Carolina, led by Chi-istoi)her Gadsden, was the first 
to appoint a connnittee to the proposed assembly. 

The first congress of the colonies met on the 
Congress. ^^^^ ^^ Qctobcr, 17G5. South Carolina, JNIassa- 
chusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and 
Maryland sent committees of their respective assemblies, 
according to the original plan ; the committees of New 
York, New Jersey, and Delaware being otherwise appoint- 
ed. New Hampshire and Georgia, without sending com- 
mittees, promised to adhere to the decisions of the congress. 
Virginia and North Cfxi'olina were absent and silent, but 
not from want of sympathy. Timothy Ruggles, of IMassa- 
chusetts, an ofiicer in the late w^ai* with France, was chosen 
president ; amongst the members were James Otis and 
Christopher Gadsden, the two prime movers in the creation 
of the congress. Otis, like the other Massachusetts mem- 
bers, came instructed by the House of Representatives " to 
insist upon an exclusive right in the colony to all acts of 
taxation." This instruction sounds like the key note of 
the congress. 

Deciara- -^^^ otlicr doiugs of the body, whether ])etition 
tion of to king or addresses to Lords and Commons of 

risjchts Vi . . . , . ..... 

and liber- Great Britam, smk mto comj)arative msignihcance 
ties. ^y jj^g g-j^^ Q^ ^ declaration of rights and liberties. 
Tills document, acknowledging -the allegiance due by the 
colonies to the crown, dwells with peculiar emphasis upon 
tlu'ir claim " to all the inheri'ut riglits juid lIlxTtics of 
natural born subjects within the kingdom of Great l>ri(;ii)i." 



PRO VOCATIONS. 180 

The rights especially demanded by the colonies are those 
of taxation by their own assemblies, and of trial by their 
own juries ; the two, as will be remembered, assailed by 
the stamp act. The injustice and impoUcy of the recent 
proceedings in the mother country are pointed out, with an 
earnest demand that all the obnoxious statutes should be at 
once repealed. The importance of the declaration must be 
evident. Preferring no claun to independence, it preferred 
claims to privileges which, in the existing relations between 
the colonies and the mother country, could not be secured 
without independence. The Declaration of Rights, dated 
the 19th of October, 1765, foretells the birth of the new 
nation as near at hand.* 

* With the exception of a few lines in the preamble, here follows in 
full the 

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES. 

The members of this congress esteem it our indispensable duty to make 
the following declaration of ovir humble opinion respecting the most 
essential rights and liberties of the colonists, and of the grievances under 
which they labor by reason of several late acts of Parhament. 

I. That his majesty's subjects in these colonies owe the same alle- 
giance to the croAvn of Great Britain that is owing from his subjects born 
within the realm, and all due subordination to that august body, the 
Parliament of Great Britain. 

II. That his majesty's liege subjects in these colonies are entitled to 
all the inherent rights and liberties of his natural born subjects within 
the kingdom of Great Britain. 

III. That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and 
the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them 
but with their own consent, given personally or by their representatives. 

IV. That the people of these colonies are not, and, from their local 
circumstances, cannot be represented in the House of Commons in Great 
Britain, 

V. That the only representatives of the people of these colonies are 
persons chosen therein by themselves, and that no taxes ever have been 
or can be constitutionally imposed on them but by their respective legis- 
latures. 

VI. That all supplies to the crown being free gifts of the people, it is 



I'JU I'AUT lil. 1:G6-11\)7. 



Eni-ct. 



Tlie dcchiratioii was not made by every colony, 

l>ul thouLrli siiz;iK'cl by the n^pivscntatives of only 

six colonics,* it wiis virtually the fict ot" all but two, Vir- 

jzinia and North Carohna ; and as sucli, it went i'orlli to 

convince the mother country, nay, the colonies themselves, 



unreasonable and inconsistent with the principles and spirit of the British 
constitution for the people of Great Brituiu to grant to his majesty the 
property of the colonists. 

VII. That trial by jury is the inherent and invaluable right of every 
British subject in these colonies. 

VIII. That the late act of Parliament entitled "An act for grantincj 
and applying certain stamp duties and other duties in the British colonies 
and plantations in America," &c., by imposing taxes on the inhabitants 
of these colonies, and the said act, and several other acts, by extending 
the jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty beyond its ancient lunits, have 
a manifest tendency to subvert the rightts and liberties of the colonists. 

IX. That the duties imposed by several late acts of Parliament, from 
the peculiar circumstances of these colonies, wU be extremely burden- 
some and grievous, and, from the scarcity of specie, the payment of them 
absolutely impracticable. 

X. That as the profits of the trade of these colonies ultimately centre 
in Great Britain, to pay for the manufactures which they are obliged to 
take from thence, they eventually contribute very largely to all supplies 
granted there to the crowni. 

XI. That the restrictions imposed by several late acts of Parliament 
on the trade of these colonies will render them unable to purchase the 
manufactures of Great Britain. 

XII. That the increase, prosperity, and happiness of these colonies 
depend on the full and free enjopnents of their rights and liberties, and an 
intercourse with Great Britain mutually affectionate and advantageous. 

XIII. That it is the right of the British subjects in these colonies to 
petition the king or either House of Parliament. 

Lastly. That it is the indispensable duty of these colonies, to the best 
of sovereigns, to the mother country, and to themselves, to endeavor by a 
loyal and dutiful address to his majesty, and humble api)lications to both 
Houses of Parliament, to procure the repeal of the act for granting and 
applying certain stamp duties, of all clauses of any other acts of Parlia- 
ment whereby the jurisdiction of the admiralty is extended as aforesaid, 
and of the other late acts for the restriction of American commerce. 

* Massacjhiisetta, Khodc Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Xcw Jersey, 
and Delaware. 



rROVOCATIONS 191 

that they were no longer separate settlements, but a single 
country. So bold was the whole course of* the congress, so 
starthng the effect, in English eyes, that the Lord Chancel- 
lor Northington exclaimed, " I declare as a lawyer, they 
have forfeited all their charters.'* It was all done in a 
three weeks' session. 

Thus far the colonies appear to have met their 

Riots. 

provocations with all the composure of men who 
knew the right to be upon their side. But it was not 
always so. When one of the New Jersey representatives, 
who had declined signing the acts of the congress, returned 
home, he was hanged and burned in effigy by his constituents. 
The mob spirit had shown itself, months before, in Boston 
and in Providence, where effigies were paraded and houses 
sacked amidst violence the most abhorrent to all the better 
class of the townspeople. When the stamp act went into 
operation, just after the close of the congress, a great riot 
broke out in New York, although there, as elsewhere, not a 
stamp officer remained to execute the provisions of the act. 
It is wiser to pass by such things with regret than to pause 
over their details as if they were the deeds of heroes. 
They sprang from strong feelings, we must allow, but not 
from strong principles ; and so far from aiding the colonies 
in obtaining justice, did more than any thing besides to in- 
crease the oppressiveness of the mother country. Bitterly, 
therefore, were they deplored by men like those who met 
in the congress or approved its acts of magnanimity. But 
such is ever the effect of oppression. It overturns the 
reason of the feeble ; it overthrows the influence of the 



^. . The outbreak in New York led to one result of 

pot tation value. An agreement to suspend importations from 
consump- Glrcat Britain was fortified by the resolution to en- 
t'on. courage manufactures at home, even by such means 



102 TAUT III. 170;;-1707. 

as catinjr no lamb or mutton, so that there mifrht be wool 
enough for the country. All tlii.s being communicated by a 
committee of corresi)onclence to the other colonies, there 
ensued a general, though not a universal, abstinence from 
IJritish goods. Non-importation and non-consumption be- 
cinne the watchwords of the colonies ; and though broken 
again and again, they were again and again renewed during 
the ensuing years. The great change that resulted in the 
outward looks of society iiarmonized with the transforma- 
tion of feelings which was going on every where. 

Meanwhile the want of stamp olficers, and the 

Kopeal ... 

of stamp indisposition of the colonial authorities to enforce 
"^'" the stamp act by themselves, had left it in a lifeless 

condition. Demands that it should be put out of existence 
altogether came, not from the colonies alone, but from a 
liU'ge number of merchants in Englmid. Pitt and liiu'ke, 
the greatest of English statesmen at the time, took up the 
oi)position ; and as the act had but augmented the expendi- 
tures of the kingdom without increasing its revenues,* the 
ministry, then professing to be a liberal one, listened to the 
general clamor for repeal. Amidst the throngs of trades- 
men and merchants, politicians and statesmen, discussing 
the question, we see the colonial agents all alive to the 
interests with which they were charged. Foremost stood 
Benjamin Franklin, for several years f the agent of Penn- 
sylvania, and now called before the House of Commons, 
where he assured his questioners that the colonies would 
never submit to the stamp act, nor to any similar statute, 
however much they might yield upon the point of duties 
to regulate commerce. The repeal was carried, accom- 

* It had cost the treasury £12,000, of which hut little more than a 
twelfth part was returned from duties Ic\-icd in Newfoundland, Nova 
Scotia, Quebec, Florida, and the West Indies. 

t Since 17G7, but with an interval. 



PllO VOCATIONS. 193 

panied, liowever, by a declaralory act, " lor the better 
securing the dependency of his majesty's dominions in 
America upon the crown and Parliament of Great Britain 
in all cases whatsoever." This was the answer of England 
to the congress of America ; the stamp act was laid aside ; 
but the power of taxation was more tightly grasped than 
ever. 

American It was now the Spring of 1766. And never had 
rejoicings, ^jj^^. ggasoH been so full of bloom as in the gladness 
which it now brought to the colonies. The fact that their 
rejoicings over the repeal of the stamp act were unmingled 
with any apparent misgivings as to the purpose of the de- 
claratory act, shows the warmth of their attachment to the 
mother country. Statues to Pitt and to the king, with in- 
demnities to those who had suffered from the riots of the pre- 
ceding year, w^ere voted amidst a turbulence of congratula- 
tion such as no event had ever occasioned in America. 

Forebodings returned with the following year. 

Ngw ftct'S 

' The Parliament of 1767 created a board of revenue 
commissioners for America; passed a tea act, by which 
duties were imposed upon tea and other imports into tlie 
colonies, for the purjDOse not only of providing for troops as 
before, but of securing fixed salaries for the royal governors 
and the royal judges ; then pronounced the New York 
assembly incapable of legislation until the quartering act 
of 1765 was obeyed by that body, hitherto resisting its exe- 
cution. Here were three measures more comprehensive 
and more oppressive than any parliamentary legislation had 
as yet been. 

They were met as might have been expected. 
ance " Let US complain to our parent," wrote John Dick- 
again. j^son, a native of Maryland, and a representative of 
Pennsylvania, in his Letters from a Farmer, " but let our 
complaints speak at the same time the language of afihction 
17 



194 TAUT III. 17G3-1707. 

and vonoration," (17G7.) TIk; bo«^inning of tlio noxt yoar 
(17U8) Itrouglit out the sterner voice of I\Ia->:iclinsi'tts 
tlirougli her representatives, inveighing against all the enact- 
ments ot" Parliament, and calling upon the coloiii«'s to join 
in one firm front of resistance. This measure the next 
house was called upon to rescind, and l>y no less an antlioi- 
ity than that of the ministiy ; but in vain. The same spirit 
showed itself in all chusses. The students of Ilarvanl (Jol- 
leg«; declared the proceedings of their tutors unconstitu- 
tional, and called a tree by the name of Lilx'rty. The 
Boston Cadets — a volunteer iiuard of the governor — re- 
fused to appear if the revenue conunissioners, who had their 
head quarters at IJoston, were invited to join a procession. 
The commissioners Avere soon Hying from a riot occasioned 
by the seizure of John Hancock's sloop for a fraudident 
entry at the custom house. Such was the prevailing con- 
fusion, that British troops were ordered to the town, (17G8.) 
This was too much for Boston. A town meeting 
tbVisetts called upon the governor to convene the General 
conven- Qourt. On liis refusal, the meeting advised the 

tion. , '^ 

people to get their arms ready, on account, it was 
said, " of an ai)proaching war with France ;" then summoned 
a convention from all Mjissachusetts. This gathered, and 
again requested the governor to summon the legislature. 
lie again refused, and hinted at treason in the convention, 
with reason, indeed, considering the entire novelty of such 
a body to him and to the colony. The convcyntion, not very 
full of lire, deprecated the displeasure of the governor, and 
addressed a petition to the king. Just as the convention 
was separating, the troops arrived, but without finding the 
quarters that were demanded for them from Boston, sturdier 
as a town than Massachusetts as a colony. " O my coun- 
trymcm!" exclaimed Josiali Quincy, Jr., one of tlie truest- 
hearted young men of Boston ; " what will our children say 



PROVOCATIONS. 195 

when they read the history of these times, should they find 
we tamely gave away, without one noble struggle, the most 
invaluable of earthly blessings?" This was no appeal to 
violence. "To banish folly and luxury," continued the 
Christian patriot, "correct vice and immorality, and stand 
immovable in the freedom in which we are free indeed, is 
eminently the duty of each individual at this day," (1768.) 

The new year (1769) began with a new provoca- 
ferl^S" tion, in the shape of an act directing that all cases 
trials in of ti^asou, whether occurring in the colonies or not, 
England. ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^.^^ .^ ^^^^ mother country. This was 

worse than any taxation, worse than any extension of ad- 
miralty courts, any demand for quarters, any creation of 
revenue commissioners, any suspension of assemblies; it 
struck a blow at the safety of the person as well as the free- 
dom of the subject. The planter at Mount Vernon, hitherto 
calm, exclaims with indignation that "our lordly masters in 
Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the 
deprivation of American freedom." " That no man," he 
writes, " should scruple or hesitate a moment to use arms in 
defence of so valuable a blessing, is clearly my opinion. 
Yet arms, I would beg leave to add, should be the last re- 
source." The Virginia assembly, of which Washington 
was still a member, passed resolutions of kindred spirit. 
Massachusetts was more than ready to follow. The Suffolk 
grand jury indicted the governor of Massachusetts, the 
commander-in-chief of the colonies in general, with the rev- 
enue commissioners and officers of the customs, for libelling 
the province to the ministry. Joseph Hawley, representa- 
tive from Northampton, declared in the house that he knew 
not " how Parliament could have acquired a right of legis- 
lation over the colonies." Thus for every fresh provoca- 
tion was there a fresh resistance, denying more and more 
of the power that was more and more oppressive. 



190 PAKT Til. 1703-1797. 

Colonial TliG Ncw York a.<.>^('nil)ly now made its submis- 
divisious. gjQjj ^^ ^jj^, quartering act. In doing so it gave 
groat offence to many of the people, one of whom was 
thrown into prison for his violent denunciation of the Jissem- 
bly. Neitiier he nor the assembly showed much wisdom in 
thus contending at a time when union was so nmch required. 
But tliere were parties amongst the colonists, just as there 
had been, indeed, from the beginning, but now more distinctly 
mai'ked and more widely separated. No less than five 
divisions existed, the central and the most substantial being 
that of the class akeady mentioned as chief in the colonies. 
This was flanked, on one side, by two orders more or less 
inclined to submit to the mother country, and on the other 
side by two orders more or less inchned to defy the mother 
country. To begin with the royalists, their name explain- 
ing itself; then came the neutrals, as they may be styled, 
neither precisely royalist nor precisely colonist; next the 
colonists proper, in their close and resolute r/mks — the men 
on whom the issue depended more than on any others ; and 
after them the more excited parties, first of the Sons of Lib- 
erty, as they called themselves,* and second of the rioters. 
Thus, with royalists and neutrals on one wing, and witli 
Sons of Liberty and rioters on the other, tjie main body of 
the colonists had but a weary and an anxious march. 
roston T'lG difficulties of the case were nowhere more 

massacre, apparent than in Boston. A constant tendency to 
riot on the part of a portion of the townspeople required as 
much energy on the part of the better class as any provoca- 
tions from abroad against which they were contending. 
AVliile the wiser Bostonians were endeavoring to procure 

* From the words of Barn-'s famous speech of 1765. Many of the 
original Sons of Liberty were of the class described as the better one of 
the time ; but, at the present period, the order was made up of the more 
turl)uk'nt spirits, yet not the mo.st turbulent of all. 



PROVOCATIONS. 197 

the withdrawal of tlie troops quartered amongst them, a 
party of men and boys involved themselves in a quarrel 
with the soldiers, the end of which was blood. This Boston 
Massacre, as it was called, did but add to the burden of the 
moderate and the effective citizens. The soldiers who had 
fired upon the people required to be defended upon a charge 
of murder ; the authorities m England required to be con- 
vinced that the violence of the populace was as much de- 
plored as the musketry of the soldiery. It marks the 
increasing passions of the times, that the two advocates 
retained by the English officer in command on the night of 
the affray, though they were no less tried patriots than 
John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr., should have fiillen 
under censure for undertaking the defence. Happily for 
the fame of Boston, they secured the safety of the accused, 
only two out of nine being brought in guilty, and those of 
manslaughter alone, for which they were branded in the 
hand and then, discharged, (1770.) 
_^, Boston was not alone in these disturbances. North 

other 

disturb- Carolina saw a large portion of her interior settlers 
banded together as Regulators * against the colonial 
government ; nor were they brought to reason without a 
battle, in which they were defeated by a volunteer force 
from the orderly portion of the colony, (1771.) In the 
north, again, the burning of storehouses at Portsmouth, and 
the destruction of the revenue schooner Gaspe in Narra- 
ganset Bay, kept up the flames of rashness and of outrage, 
(1772.) The Gaspe, or its officers, however, had done all 
that was possible to provoke its doom. 

The mother country had been pursuing a comparatively 
gentle course. The repeal of the duty upon many arti- 

* A name fii-st applied in South Carolina to a party undertaking to 
execute the laws for themselves; in modern phrase, Lynch-law men. 

17* 



108 PART III. 1703-1707. 

clos ini|-»ort(>(l into tho colonics ?howo(l a flis^position 

AiMition- ... ^,__ , , ,,, 1 , • 

ni art wn- ^^^ conoilialc, ( I < / 0.) 1 \\o }ears j)a>>(Ml orlorc any 
ceniing .^^.^ appeared in relation to the colonies ; nor could 

triuld. 

that then enacted be called a provocation. In con- 
sequence of the occurrence at Portsmouth, a hill })assed 
Parliament to secure the trial in England of any incendia- 
ries of the royal stores or ships in America, (1772.) It did 
not please the colonists, not even the great party otinoih ra- 
tion, to think that they had brought this sentence upon 
themselves. The truth was, that the less moderate the 
course of things, the fewer moderate men then* were to 
bring things back to moderation. What was done only by 
the violent was u}>lield in many instances by the j)rudent ; a 
common sympathy was fast fusing all parlies. So Boston 
now held its town meeting, and put forth its memorial not 
only against the acts of which it had to comi)lain. but 
against those which it seemed to have to apprehend. 
Tea de- '^'^^ "^^^ ^^^^' sliowed liow fast the colonies were 
stroyed in driving ou. It began with resolutions from Vir- 
ginia, where a committee was appointed to corre- 
spond with the other colonies. To the closer union thus pro- 
posed, Rhode Island was the first to adhere, but without 
immediate results. Yet, as the year advanced, the colo- 
nists found themselves the better prepared to combine in 
resistance to the introduction of large quantities of tea, still 
subject to duty. It was the j)lan partly of the East India 
Company and partly of the ministry ; the fonner ho})ing to 
dispose of their swollen stock, the latter to obtain some of 
the taxes that api^eared to have been levied in vain upon 
the colonies. Philadelphia was the first to take the field by 
t()W!i meeting against tea and taxation. Boston soon fol- 
lowed ; and when the proceedings of town meetings, both 
ordinary and extraordinary, came to nought, as the governor 
stood fast for the East India Conqjany and the ministry, 



PROVOCATIONS, 199 

the three vessels that Lad come in with tea were boarded, 
and their cargoes tlirown into the dock. It was a sad event 
for many even of the more resolute citizens ; but the ma- 
jority, under the lead of Samuel Adams, was now composed 
of the rash as well as the resolute ; a party from the country 
having been most active in the destruction of the tea, (De- 
cember, 1773.) A few weeks later, a smaller quantity of 
tea, imported to private order, was also destroyed at Boston, 
(February, 1774.) 

And else- ^hc Same thing happened at New York and An- 
where. napolis. But the larger portion of the tea received 
at New York, and all received at Philadelphia, was swiftly 
returned to England. This returning the tea, or the stor- 
ing it where it would soon lose its virtue, as in Charleston, 
was a far waser course than destroying it. The process of 
destruction was also the less bold. It was effected by men 
disguised, or else so maddened as to scorn disguise. 
Slave It has already appeared how small a part of the 

trade. provocations to the colonies consisted in mere meas- 
ures of taxation. A signal instance of the comprehensive 
inflictions from the mother country came up in the midst of 
the transactions lately occurred. The repugnance of the 
colonies to the slave trade, reviving in these times of strug- 
gle, brought out renewed expressions of opposition and 
abhorrence. Virginia attempted by her assembly to lay 
restrictions on the traffic ; but the royal governor was at 
once directed by the authorities at home to consent to no 
laws affecting the interests of the slave dealers, (1770.) 
The efforts of other colonies met with similar obstacles. 
Bills of assemblies, petitions to the king, called forth by 
the startling development of the trade,* were alike ineffect- 



* In less than nine months, 6431 slaves were imported into the single 
colony of South Carolina, from Africa and the West Indies. 



200 PART III. 17G3-1707. 

iial. "It is the opinion of this meetinf]^," — thus ran tlio ro- 
solves of the county of Fairfax, George Washinj:t<ni cliair- 
inan, — "that during our })res('nt dilHcuUies and disti-css, no 
skives ought to be im})orted into any of tlie British colonies 
on this continent ; imd we taJce this 0})portunity of dechiring 
our most earnest wishes to see an entire stop forever put to 
such a wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade," (1771.) 

Provocations were gathering heavily and rapidly. 

Chastise- ^ ^ , , -r, n • i 

mentof Massachusetts and Boston, foremost in the tea trou- 
Miissa- \y\(,^ .i,ij soon after, in the disturbances occasioned 

chiisetts ' 

and Bos- by royal salaries to the governors and judges of the 
*'*°' colonies, were singled out for peculiar chastisement. 
The Boston port bill closed the harbor of that town to all 
importation and exportation. Then General Gage, com- 
mander-in-chief of the British forces in the colonies, was 
appointed governor of Massachusetts. Not content with 
creating this state of siege, the ministry brought in a bill 
for the better regulating the government of Massachusetts 
Bay, by which the colony was virtually deprived of its 
charter. The councillors and superior judges were all to be 
appointed by the crown ; the inferior judges and other offi- 
cers being left to the nomination of the governor, Who was 
invested with a sort of absolute authority. No town meet- 
ings were to be held, except for elections, unless the gov- 
ernor saw tit to make any further exceptions. No juries 
were to be summoned, except by the sheriffs, that is, by the 
officers of the governor. To crown the whole, a third bill 
provided that persons chai-ged with murder in sustaining 
the government, should be sent to another colony or to Eng- 
land for trial — a shrewd precaution, considering the cer- 
tainty of collision between the people and the government 
under the system about to be enforced. Such were the 
measures by which Massachusetts was to be crushed and 
her sister colonies overawed. Th(i crisis had come with 
the spring and sunmK^r of 1774. 



PROVOCATIONS. 201 

Quebec Another proceeding of the same period was in- 
^^^- tended to separate the thirteen colonies from their 

neiglibors on the continent. The French settlers in the 
west had shown some signs of sympathy with the English 
colonies, not, indeed, by any direct cooperation, or even 
intercourse, but by the same irrepressible instincts after 
liberty. When their petition for a form of government in 
which they could have some share was met by a system in 
which none but the royal officials had any part, the French 
in the Illinois country protested against it with all the fer- 
vor of their nature, (1773.) To keep such spirits down, 
especially to keej) them from combining with the kindred 
spirits of the English colonies, seems to have been the main 
object of the Quebec act, by which that province, extended 
from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, was 
placed under a government mostly of royal officials. At 
the same time, the French were conciliated by the restora- 
tion of their law and of their church, (1774.) 

Thus cut off from their northern and western 
tionlln'd neighbors, the inhabitants af the thirteen colonies 
Provin- gathered together against the mother-land. A cir- 
gross in cular from Boston to the towns of Massachusetts 
Massa- called upon them to make common resistance to the 

cliusetts. 

recent acts. Several of the towns, or rather coun- 
ties, met by delegates in convention at Boston to resolve 
upon measures of defence, amongst which "the military 
art" and "a Provincial Congress" were prominent. A con- 
vention of Middlesex county at Concord resolved that " to 
obey them," that is, the acts of Parliament, " would be to 
annihilate the last vestiges of liberty in this province," 
(August.) Ten days after, (September,) a convention of 
Suffolk county at Milton recommended that the detested 
acts " should be rejected as the attempts of a wicked admin- 
istration to enslave America." The next month, (October,) 



202 PART III. 17r,:M707 

llic House of Representatives voted it.-elfa Provincial Con- 
gress. This was decisive. But tliat it was done, must be 
ascribed not merely to the iidierent independence of Massa- 
eliusetts, but to the pervading synipatliy of the sister 
colonies. 

National " Has not tliis," wrotc Washington, nearly three 
f^i'i'it- months before, in relation to the Jicts of Parliament 
and the proceedings of Governor General Gage, — " has not 
tiiis exhibited an unexampled testimony of the most despotic 
system of tyranny that Avas ever practised in a free govern- 
ment? . . . Shall we supinely sit, imd see one j)rov- 
inee after another iall a sacrilice to despotism ? . . . 
]My nature recoils at the thought of submitting to measures 
which I think subversive of every thing that I ought to hold 
deal- and valuable." Such was the tone of every true voice, 
the feeling of every true heart. A national spirit was 
ai'oused. 

Continen- ^-^orc than a year previously, Benjamin Franklin 
t4ii Con- — now agent not only for Pennsylvania, but for 
gress. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Georgia — wrote 
officially to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 
recommending a General Congress, (1773.) But it was not 
imtil ten months afterwards that the project was taken up, 
and then not in Massachusetts, but in Rhode Island. Vir- 
ginia followed close, recommending that the Congress should 
be annual, and voting that " an attack upon one colony was 
an attack upon all British America," (May, 1774.) Rhode 
Island was the first to appoint delegates; Massachusetts 
doing the same almost immediately, and the other colonies, 
Georgia excepted, imitating these examples. The method 
of api)ointment varied from choice by the assembly, or by a 
convention of the whole colony, to choice by committees, 
county and town, or by a single committee. It was a noble 
body that met at Philadelphia on the 5th of September^ 



PROVOCATIONS. 203 

1774. Samuel Adams and John Adams were there from 
Massachusetts; John Jay from New York; John Dickm- 
son from Pennsylvania; George Washington, Patrick 
Henry, and Richard Heniy Lee, from Virginia; Christo- 
pher Gadsden and John Rutledge from South Carolina. 
" If you speak of eloquence," said Patrick Henry, on being 
asked about the greatest man in Congress, " Mr. Rutledge 
is by far the greatest orator ; but if you speak of solid in- 
formation and sound judgment, Colonel Washington is 
unquestionably the greatest man on that floor." It needed 
all that the leaders, all that the members as a body, could 
command, to meet the exigencies of the time. The Congress 
that met to reject the stamp act, nine years before, had but 
child's play to go through, compared with the work of the 
present Congress— the Continental Congress, as it was 

called. 

Taxation had been the substance of three acts of 
Its work. p^j,i.^jjjgj^^^ ^^^ at the most, of four.* There were 
twice or thrice that number t upon other points to be op- 
posed. Against all these provocations the Continental Con- 
gress put forth their declaration of colonial rights. In this, 
much the same ground as to the allegiance and the general 
rights of the colonies was taken as had been held by the 
earlier Congress. It is therefore a document of secondary 
unportance in the progress of our history. 

Not so the American Association. This was a 
Associ^° body of articles, by which a stop was to be put, after 
certain dates, to all importation from or exportation 



tion. 



* The sugar, the' stamp, and the tea acts, with the act creating rev- 
enue commissioners. 

t The quartering acts, the act suspending the New York assembly, 
the acts concerning trials for treason and incendiarism, the three acts 
against Massachusetts, the Quebec act, besides those portionsof the stamp 
and tea acts relating, to Admiralty Courts and royal salaries. 



204 P^UIT III. 17(>3-1797. 

to Great Britain and its dcpontlencics, fio long as the op- 
pressive acts of Parliament were not repealed. " AVe will 
lu'itlier import nor purchase any slaves imjtorted after the 
first day of December next," wjus one of the articles ; " after 
which time we will neither he concerned in it ourselves, nor 
will we hin' our vessels, nor sell our connnodities or manu- 
tju'tures, to those who are concerned in it." Tlius humane 
as well as hold, considtrate for their inferiors as well as res- 
olute towards their superiors, or those claiming to be such, 
the members of the Continental Congress signed the Amer- 
ican Association. The date was October 20, 1774. It wji^ 
the birthday o^'the nation. 

„ ... Toj^ether with the Association and the declara- 

aii.i ad- tion, there came from Congress a petition to the king 
ic*bcs. ^j^^j addresses to the people of Great Britain, Brit- 
isli America, and Canada, besides letters to Newfoundland, 
Nova Scotia, and the two Floridas. These various docu- 
ments being adopted, and the debates on all the stirring 
questions of the tmie being concluded, not altogether with 
unanimity. Congress separated, (October 2G,) having pro- 
vided that another Congress should be convened, if neces- 
sary, in the ensuing spring. 

Peace or " IMore l)lood," wrote Washington, during the ses- 
^^'*"- sion of Congress, '" will be spilled on this occasion, 
if the ministry are determined to push matters to extremity, 
than history has ever yet furnished instances of in the annals 
of North America." 'After all," wrote Joseph Ilawley from 
Ma^.«achusetts to John Adams in Congress, — " after all, we 
must fight." Adams read the letter to his colleague from 
Virginia, the fervid Patrick Henry, who burst out with the 
exclamation, " I am of that man's mind ! " It was not the 
oj)inion of every one. Richard Henry Lee parted from 
Adams with the assurance that " all the offensive acts will 
be repealed. . . . Britain will give up her foolish project." 



PROVOCATIONS. 205 

Preparar Come peace or come war, the Americans, as tliey 
tion. are hereafter to be called, were prepared. Not, it 
is true, with armies or fortresses, not with the material 
resources which they seemed to require, but with the spirit 
that was of far greater importance, the source of all outward 
strength and success. This spirit was not without its sup- 
ports° intellectual or physical. The struggles with the 
mother country had called out orators and statesmen, whose 
minds were daily making some fresh contribution to the 
thought and the power of humanity. Physically, the 
Americans were increasing their stores and extending their 
domains. The road to the great west was opened with the 
first settlement made in the present Tennessee, (1768.) If 
old weaknesses lingered, if the disputes between colony and 
colony continued, now on a question of boundary, now on 
one of doctrine, they were lost in the union that had been 
achieved, in the nation that had been born. 



CHAPTER II. 

War. 

. . The very day that the Continental Conpjress 

of Massa- separated, — October 26, 1774, — the Provincial 

Congress of JNIassaeluisetts took a step decisive of 
war. This was the organization of the militia, consisting 
of all the, able-bodied men of the colony, one Ibiirlh of 
them being constituted minute men, bound to take up arms 
at a minute's warning. Soon afterw/Trds, provision was 
made for supplying the equipments and munitions of an 
army. The whole was placed under the direction of a 
committee of safety, with John Hancock for a chairman. 

The arming of the colony had not been unpro- 
provoke.i voked. Two months before, General Gage, the 

commander-in-chief and the governor, had begun 



or uimn- 
ticipated. 

to fortify the land approach to Boston. He had 
also seized upon some stores of powder belonging to the 
province at Charlestown. Such was the temper excited 
against him, that Chiistopher Gadsden, the representative 
of South Carolina in the Continental Congress, j^roposed an 
immediate attack upon the British head quarters in Boston. 
Neither was the arming; of Massachusetts altoj^rether unan- 
ticipated. No colony, indeed, had gone so far ; but many 
a town, many a band of individuals, was prepai*ed for con- 
flict. A rumor that Boston was bombarded by the British 
brought out numbers of the Connecticut militia to the 
rescue of their countrymen. Years before, when the stamp 

(206) 



WAR. 207 

act was rousing the land to resistance, some ardent New 
Yorkers had voted " to march with all despatch . . . 
to the relief of those who should or might be in danger 
from the stamp act or its abettors," (1765.) The juncture 
thus prepared for arrived when Massachusetts armed her- 
self. From that day, war was inevitable. The British 
authorities would never sit by while such things were going 
on, nor could they attempt any measures of repression 
without arousing the colonists to use the weapons which 
they had assumed. 

The example of Massachusetts was soon followed. 

Arming ^ , . , . n r i 

of other Far and near, the colonies, by act oi assembly, or 
c^.ionies. ^^ convention, or of individual resolution, took up 
the posture of defence. All the while, the national spirit 
was sustained by the American Association, and by the 
committees appointed to enforce it. Though not universally 
prevalent, the Association had extended itself more widely 
and more deeply than any previous bond of union amongst 
the colonies. Earnest to maintain their ties and their 
rights, the Americans drew out their lines. It was no 
great show in a military point of view. In point of 
courage, of sacrifice, it was sublime. 

The year was closins; in England with a new 

Course of "^ p i • • 4. 

Pariia- Parliament, in which the majorities for the ministry 
'"''"*' were irresistible. Amongst the members Avas a 
native of New York, Henry Cruger, who, having settled 
as a merchant at Bristol, was elected mayor, and returned 
to Parliament. Li the prime of manhood, flushed with 
generous emotion for the country of his birth, although 
opposed to its revolutionary courses, he rose to make his 
maiden speech against the severities with which the minis- 
try was threatening America. " Can it be believed," he 
cries, "that Americans will be dragooned into a conviction 
of this right of parhamentary taxation ? " The plea was 



208 PAllT III. 1763-1797. 

taken up by men of greater influence. As the new year 
(1775) oi)ened, Chatluun and Burke devoted themselves to 
obtaining justice for America. In vain ; the petition of the 
Continental Congress to the king was refused a hearing ; 
rebellion was declared to exist in Massachusetts, and to be 
abetted by other colonies. The " New England restraining 
act " cut off the New England colonies from the fishery and 
from all trade, save to Great Britain, Ireland, and the Brit- 
ish West Indies. The prohibition was soon extended to 
the other colonies; New York, North Carolina, and Georgia 
being spared on account of their expected submission. At 
the same time. Lord North, the prime minister, brouglit out 
what he called a conciliatory proposition, to the eiiect that 
the colonies should not be taxed by Parliament, if they 
would tax themselves, and therewith raise the sums wliich 
Parliament should deem necessary. " They com})laiu," 
was the decisive reply of Edmund Burke, " that they are 
taxed without their consent ; you answer that you will fix 
the sum at which they shall be taxed. That is, you give 
them tlie very grievance for the remedy." The proposition, 
thus clearly seen through by an Englishman, was not likely 
to blind Americans. Out of Parliament, there were few to 
tiike any active part in relation to America. We should 
not, however, pass over the suggestion of Dr. Tucker, Dean 
of Gloucester, that Parliament should declare the colonies 
separated from the mother country until they humbled 
themselves to ask for forgiveness and for restoration. Had 
the dean's idea been adopted, how much wrong, how much 
blood, might have been saved ! 

Fi,.j,t But the Americans and the British were now to 

collision, meet in arms. A party of one hundred and Hfty 
troops, sent from Boston to seize some cannon at Salem, 
not finding it there, marched on towards Danvers. Oir tlieir 
way, they came to a bridge, occupied at first by a few coun- 



WAR. 209 

try people, but presently by a company of militia under 
Colonel Pickering. As the draw was up, the British at- 
tempted to cross the stream in boats, and in doing so, used 
their bayonets freely enough to wound the men who kept 
the boats from them. A serious conflict would have en- 
sued but for the mediation of Mr. Barnard, a clergyman 
of Salem, who prevailed on the Biitish officer, Lieutenant 
Colonel Leslie, to return in case the troops were allowed 
to cross the bridge. This was agreed to on the American 
side ; the troops crossed, advanced a few rods, then faced 
about, and retired without the cannon of which they had 
come in search. The date was February 26, 1775. 
Its sig- The collision is memorable as the first of the 
nificance. war. It is also to be remarked as strikingly sig- 
nificant of the collisions that followed. The same paucity 
of numbers, the same restriction of movements, the same 
ineffectiveness of results, characterize the whole strife be- 
tween Great Britain and America. We must be prepared 
for operations on a small scale, and with a small effect, each 
taken alone. Taken together, however, the operations of 
the war bear a nearer proportion to the greatness of the 
stakes at issue. 

^ . The next encounter was more serious. It took 

ton ami placc in the early morning of April 19. A force 
of eight hundred troops, marching from Boston to 
Concord, for the purpose of destroying the military stores 
collected in that place, met not quite a hundred minute 
men at Lexington. The British fired ; the minute men 
returned the fire, but, of course, retreated, leaving a few 
of their number killed and wounded. The men of Concord 
retired before the troops without attempting resistance ; but 
from the surrounding towns there came other minute men 
so numerous and so spirited as to engage with the British, 
and compel them to retreat. The retreat became a flight ; 
18* 



210 PAKT m. 176-V1797- 

nor would the fugitives have escaped but for the reenforce- 
ments which met them ai Lexington. The numljer of the 
Americans being also on the increase, the retreat, resumed 
at Lexington, proved very ditncult. Had it been protract- 
ed, the arrival of fre-h parties of minute men would have 
cut it off aliojrether. As it wa=, the British, out of seven- 
teen hundred troops, lost nearly three hundred in killed, 
woande<i, and prisoners- The Americans, amotmting in all 
to several himdred, lost le-s tlian one hmidred. 

*• An inhuman sohlierj," wrote Joseph "Warren, 
Meckka- V^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ Provincial Congress, to the com- 
borg dee- mittees of safety throughout ^Lissachus^tt?, '• en- 
raged at being repuL-e*l from the field of slaughter, 
will, without the least doubt, take the first opportunity in 
their power to ravage tlus devoted country- with fire and 
sword- AVe conjure you, therefore, that you give all assist- 
ance possible in forming an army.** Massachusetts vote<l 
tliat at lea-t thirty thousand men ought to be raised by 
New Kngland, herself fumi-hing nearly lialf the number. 
Bhodo Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire soon re- 
sponded, but not quite so lilxrrally as the sister colony had 
d*^ire<L Out of New Englanrl, the agitation was the same. 
** The once happy and j>eaceful plains of America,** wrfite 
Washington from Philadelphia, " are either to be drenched 
with blor^l or inhabited by slaves. Sad alternative ! But 
can a virtuoiLS man hf^fitate in lus choice ? " The news, 
travelling slowly, rearrhed the town of Charlotte, Mecklen- 
burg county. North Carolina, where a county convention 
was in session. It lent re-^dution to the delegates, who 
soon declarefl their inde[>endence of " the authority of the 
king and Parliament . . . and the former civil consti- 
tution of these colonies,*** (May.) The declaration of 

* Two seta of reso! :tion» exist, one mnch fitron^er than the other, bit 
both equrJljr BtroT'fiT ufjon the point of independence. The dates Ukf^-^i-ie 
rary, \jat both profe** to have been adopted in the latter half of May, 177 v. 



WAIL 211 

Meckleubirra: conntv was cammimicated to ihe Provincial 
Congress of the eolonr, iviibout, however, obiaininsr the 
sympathy of that assembly. It was also lorwanied lo the 
!Nonh Carolina represeniatives in the Continental C<ffigress ; 
but so little did it move them, that ibey did not even lay it 
before their eolIeagiie>. 

War rn ^^ tToops of Xew England were gaiheiing 
Massa- aboQi Boston. The people of Massaoliu.-eii5 sent 
"** an address to the people of Great Britain. ** Ap- 
pealing to Heaven," they deelaivd, ** for the justice of our 
cause, we determine to die or to be fi^e-^ EepelKng a 
Comieeiicut ofiVr of mediation between herself and her 
governor, Genentl Gage, Massachusetts voieti him **an 
unnatural and inveterate eneniy "^ — a complmiem which he 
afcerwards I'euiraed by pronomicing the Maci^iehusetis 
people -rebels and traitors." The breach yawned wide, 
and wider still, as tlie pissions and the outrages of war 
poiuvd in. 

So far the Americans had acted on the defensive, 
asi^d"" -^"* ^^'^^^' ^ band oi' volunteers from Coimecticut 
CioToi jjjjj ijj^ Green Mountains, led by Ethan Allen and 
Seih AT;\mer, with whom went Benetiiet Arnold, 
mider a Massachusetts commission, surprisetl the small gar- 
risons at Ticonderog:! ;ind Ci\>wn Point, (^May 10-12.) 
Descending thentv ag:\inst various places on L:ike Cliam- 
plain, the adventurous band seouivd a l:\rge lxx>ty. and then 
separated, leading a ci^nsiderable portion of their numWr 
in possession of the Point and Ticonderogii- 
Prcvved- ^^^^ spirit arouseil in action appeared in delibera- 
iiijrs in tion likewise, TMien the new Congre^ ai^sembleii 
coucn^sj^ at Philadelphia in the spring, V^ay 10,) it l>eg:m 
upon measuivs moiv detcrmint\l by t^ir than those of the 
former Ixxiy. The members Avere mostly the same ; but 
the circumstancos in which thev met were as dil^onMit as 



212 I'AIIT III. 17G:M707. 

peace and war. Massa<:'husetts opened the way to new res- 
olutions, by rtconiiiRMidiuj^ the creation oi' an Anicrican 
ai'niy, and by lu^king instruction us to the Ibnn of govern- 
ment under which she should phice hersell'. Congress an- 
swered the request by advising the election of a council and 
an assembly, who should administer the colony by them- 
selves, until a governor should appear to take his j)art ac- 
cording to the charter of 1G91. Soon afterwards, the Pro- 
vincial Congress of INIassachusetts gave way to a General 
Court or assembly. The reconnnendation of an army was 
followed by Congress in adoi)ting the troops before Boston 
as the American continental army. To this were also 
sunnnoned a few companies of ritlemen from the southern 
colonies. 

Washing- The creation of an army required the creation 
ton iip- Qf r^ commander. No act of Congress could be 

l)ointeil , 1 ' /• 1 1 

command- more miportant, none proved more successtul, than 
oi-iu-chief. ^Ym ap})ointment of Colonel George "Washington, 
representative from Virginia. " AVe, the delegates of the 
United Colonies," — thus runs the commission of Washing- 
ton, — " reposing special trust and confidence in your patriot- 
ism, conduct, and fidelity, do by these presents constitute 
and apijoint you to be general and commander-in-chief of 
the army of the United Colonies. . . . And you ai*e 
hereby vested with full ])0wer and authoi'ity to act as you 
shall think for the good and welfare of the service." Ka|)id 
as these outlines of events must be, they will bear repeated 
testimony to the unequalled, indeed the liithertonneonceived 
devotion of Washington to the cause of his country. His 
acceptance of the commission, itself the greatest act of sac- 
i-ijifc that he could make, was accompanied by the refusal 
ol' all pecuniary compensation for his services. It was a 
memorable day when this devoted ciu'cer began — June lo, 
1775. 



WAR- 213 

P^^jjer -A.S if to do honor to the general thus given them, 
Hi"- the New England troops, just declared the conti- 
nental army, furnished a detachment of one thousand, under 
Colonel Prescott, to take possession of Bunker's Hill, a 
point of great importance to the hues around Boston. He, 
through a mistake assisteS by the ardor of his character, 
threw up his redoubt upon Breed's Hill, an eminence con- 
siderably nearer to the town. Reenforced by a thousand 
men, the party completed their fortifications in time to re- 
ceive the three thousand British troops assailing them from 
Boston. Twice was the advance of the enemy repelled ; 
but the failure of ammunition obliged the Americans to 
retreat, leaving one of their most heroic hearts, President 
and Major General Joseph Warren, dead upon the field. 
Four hundred and fifty of them in all were killed or wound- 
ed ; the British losing more than twice that number. The 
battle of Bunker Hill, as it was afterwards called, has been 
greatly magnified beyond the importance attached to it at 
the time. But there can be no question of its having done 
much to mortify the British, who had always boasted that 
the Americans would fly before them, as well as much to 
elate the Americans, although they had always boasted that 
they would resist their foes, (June 17.) 

Washington heard of the battle at New York, on 
JIntrthehis way to the army. Hastening his journey, he 
he<wi of .^i-i-ivecl at Cambridge, which was to be his head 
"" ''™^ quarters, and assumed the command. On the next 
day, July 4, he issued an order to" the forces. "The Con- 
tinental Congress," he proclaimed, " having now taken all 
the troops of the several colonies, which have been raised 
or which may be hereafter raised for the support and de- 
fence of the liberties of America, into their pay and service, 
they are now the troops of the United Provinces of North 
America ; and it is hoped that all distinctions of colonies 



211 PAUT ill. 1703-17'J7. 

will Ix' laid asido, so that oiic and the samf spirit may aiii- 
iiialc tlic wliol*'. . . . Tlic ^'cncral HMiuircs and cxpecls 
ol'all olliccrs, not eiii^aGrcd on actual duty, a i)uiiclual attend- 
ance on divine service, to ini})lore the l)le.ssin<i;s oi' Heaven 
upon the nieans used lor our safety and defence." Tims 
ajipialiiiLr to the love ot" country and to the fear of CJod, 
AVashin<j:ton called u})on his countrymen to do their duty in 
the war. 

Dinicui- ^ot every one was disposed to hear him. In- 
ties. deed, there were but few who came u\) to tlu^ stan- 
dard of their chief, either as soldiers or as men. When we 
read of thidr deficiencies and of his embarrassments, we 
nmst remember that he and those like him were the repre- 
sentatives of the better class of Americans, already described 
as most prominent and most wise during the strug<j:les of 
the preceding years. They, on the o^her hand, Avho fell 
short of the demands upon them, were of the other classes, 
the rash or the timid, the too presumptuous or the too sub- 
missive. 

Sic-eof Washington at once determined to lay r(\!inlar 
Boston, siege to Boston. His first object was merely to 
shut up the British in the town, (July.) Presently, he 
tried to bring on an attack from the enemy against the 
American lines, (August.) This failing, he formed the pur- 
pose of attacking the British in their own lines, (Septem- 
ber.) He deferred to the objections of his ol!ic(irs, and put 
off the assault, without, however, abandoning his designs. 
All the while, he had no arms, no ammunition, no pay for 
his troops from Congress ; no general support from his offi- 
cers or men ; no obedience even, at times, from the soldiers 
or from the crews of the ai'med vessels acting in concert 
with the army. It was very difficult to fill the ranks to any 
degree at all proportioned to the operations of the siege. 
" There must be some other stimulus," he writes to the 



WAR. 215 

president of Congress, " besides love f<w their country, to 
make men fond of the service." " Such a dearth of pubhc 
spirit," he laments to a personal friend, " and such want of 
virtue, such stockjobbing and fertility to obtain advantages 
of one kind and another, I never saw before, and pray 
God's mercy that I may never be witness to again. . . . 
I tremble at the prospect. . . . Could I have foreseen 
what I have experienced and am likely to experience, no 
consideration upon earth should have induced me to accept 
this command." Such were the circumstances, and such 
the feelings, in which the commander-in-chief found liimself 
conducting the great operation of the year. 
General "^^ ^^^^^ ^^^® there was not only an army, but a 
govern- government of America. The Continental Con- 
^^^ ' gress, declaring themselves to be acting " in defence 
of the freedom that is our birthright," took all the meas- 
ures, military, financial, and diplomatic, which the cause 
appeared to require. The organization of the army was 
continued; that of the militia was attempted. A naval 
committee was appointed, and a navy — if the name can be 
used on so small a scale — was called into existence. Hos- 
pitals were provided. Several millions of continental cur- 
rency were issued, and a treasury department created. A 
post office was also organized. Several of the colonies who 
had applied for advice upon the point were recommended to 
frame governments for themselves. The Indian relations 
were reduced to system. A last petition to the king, with 
addresses to Great Britain and London, Ireland and Ja- 
maica, was adopted. More significant than all else was the 
appointment of a committee of secret correspondence with 
Europe. In short, the functions of a general government 
were assumed by Congress and recognized throughout the 
colonies. 

At the beginning of August, Georgia signified her acces- 



21 G TAUT III. 17('.:]-1707. 



„^ ,,. sion to the otlier colonios, thus complotini; tlio tliir- 

Tho thir- . , , ' 

t.'iii com- teen. A iourteentli ollered it>elt' in Trau>ylvaiiia, 

^" "' the present Kcntiukx, wlicre one or two small set- 
tlements iiad just been made. J>ut Con<;ress could not 
admit the delejrate of a territory which Virginia claimed as 
nndcr her jurisdiction. The nation and the p;overnment 
remained as the Thirteen United Colonies. 
Military Military operations, aj)art from the piej:^e of lios- 
operutiuus. ^^jj^ were numerous, if not extensive. The landinfj; 
of a British party at Gloucester was repelled. The fort 
luar Charleston was seized by the Americans, who also 
drove the British ships out of the harbor. Noifolk, for 
some time m the hands of the British, was recovered after 
a gallant action. On the other hand, Stonington, liristol, 
and Falmouth were not saved from bombardment, Fal- 
mouth (now Portland) being nearly annihilated. The 
Americans, in return, sent out their privateers ; those com- 
missioned by Washington, especially his " famous Manly," 
as he called one of his captains, doing great execution in 
Massachusetts Bay. Offensive operations were pursued on 
land. A projected expedition against Nova Scotia was 
given up, chiefly on account of the friendly feeling of that 
province. But a twofold force, partly from the New York 
and partly from the IMaine side, marched against Canada. 
St. John's and Montreal were taken by the Americans under 
General Montgomery, who fell in an assault on Quebec the 
last day of the year. Arnold, the same who had gone 
against Crown Point and Ticonderoga, kept up the show of 
besieging Quebec through the Avinter, l)ut in the sjn-ing the 
Americans retreated within their own borders. One of the 
most successful operations of the period was towards the 
close of winter, when fifteen hundred Highlanders and Reg- 
ulators, who had enlisted under the royal banner in Nortli 
Carolina, were defeated by two tliirds their number of 



WAH. 217 

Americans, under Colonel Moore. It saved the province 
to the country. 

The mention of those enlisted in the royal cause 

Loyalists. . . ,. . . 

suggests the increasing divisions amongst the Amer- 
icans. A large number, who had looked on or even joined 
in the proceedings of former days, drew off, if they did not 
take a hostile position, in these days of war. Companies 
and regiments of royal or loyal Americans began to al)ound. 
Some of these loyalists, as they were styled, were roughly 
handled by their indignant neighbors, wdio spared neither 
person nor property. One of the New York Sons of Lib- 
erty, Isaac Sears, impatient at the moderate cour.^e pursued 
by the committee of safety, brought in an armed band from 
Connecticut, to destroy the press of Rivington's Gazetteer, 
a journal in the British interest. Such doings were more 
likely to introduce dissensions amongst the patriots than to 
subdue the loyalists. But when did riot fail to go hand in 
hand with war ? 

Great Britain, on her part, was united. Few- 
Britain aii^ faint were the voices raised in defence of the 

deter- Americans, since the news of Lexino;ton and Bun- 
mined. 

ker Hill. Edmund Burke and one or two of the 

same spirit continued to plead for the American cause, but 
all unavailingly. The last petition of Congress to the kiug 
was rejected. A bill of confiscation, as it may be called, 
was passed against the trade, the merchandise, and the ship- 
ping of the colonies ; whatever crews might be captured 
were to be impressed into the British navy. The army in 
America was augmented to forty thousand, partly by British 
and partly by German troops. In fine, the reduction of the 
colonies was the one great object with the larger part of the 
people, as with the rulers of Great Britain. 

AU the wliile, Washington was before Boston. But his 
attention was not wholly concentrated there. On the con- 
19 



218 PART III. 1703-1797. 

^ , . trary, his voice was to be heard in all directions, on 

Washing- •' ' 

tou before the march to Canada, in the posts of New York, on 
board the national cruisers, at the meetings of com- 
mittees and assemblies, in the provincial legislatures, witliin 
Congress itself, every where pointing out what was to be 
done, and the spirit in which it was to be done. They who 
doubt liis military ability or his intellectual greatness will 
do well to follow him through these first months of the war; 
if they do it faithfully, they will doubt no more. The 
activity, the judgment, the executive power, and above all 
the moral power of the great general and tlie great man 
are nowhere in history more conspicuous than in those 
rude lines before Boston. 

To add to the difficulties of the siege, the army 

Recovery '^ •' 

of the went through a complete process of disbanding and 
recruiting, on account of the general unwillingness 
to serve for any length of time. Without men and without 
munitions, Washington sublimely kept his post, until, after 
months of disappointment, he obtained the means to take 
possession of Dorchester Heights, whence the town was 
completely commanded. The enemy, under General Howe, 
had long meditated the evacuation of the place ; and they 
now the more readily agreed to leave it on condition that 
they should be unmolested. The 17th of March, 177G, 
eight months and a half from the time that Washington 
undertook the siege, his generalship and his constancy were 
rewarded with success. 

The Vic- ^^ ^^'^^ Certainly an amazing victory. " I have 
*o^y- been here months together," he wrote to his brother, 
" with what will scarcely be believed, not thirty rounds of 
musket cartridges to a man. . . . We have maintained 
our ground against the enemy under this want of powder, 
and we have disbanded one army, and recruited another, 
within musket shot of two and twenty regiments, the flower 



WAR. 



219 



of the British army, whilst our force has been but little, if 
any, superior to theirs ; and, at last, have beaten them into 
a shameful and precipitate retreat out of a place the strong- 
est by nature on this continent, and strengthened and forti- 
fied at an enormous expense." Such being the result of 
the only operation in which the Americans and the British 
met each other as actual armies, there was reason for 
"Washington and his true-hearted countrymen to exult and 
to hope. 

increas- But the country was in danger. An attack was 
ing perils, feared at New York ; another at Charleston: the 
whole coast, indeed, lay open and defenceless. The year 
of warfare ended in greater apprehensions and in greater 
perils than those in which it began. 



CHAPTER III. 

Declauation of Independence. 

Tiansfor- TiiE coloiiios Were ficrhtin"; at a (lisadvaiita'xe. 
ofVach -^^^ *^"^y ^^'^'i'^' their resources, in a military point 
nies to of view, inferior to tliose of their fjreat antaironist ; 
tins was i)ut a nnnor consideration with them, liiey 
were taxed witli rebellion ; they were branded with tlie 
name of rebels by their enemies, nay, by those of their 
own people who opposed the war. On many, these epithets 
made no impression ; they were rather acceptable than 
otherwise to the more ardent and the more violent. But 
to the moderate and to the calm, it was intolerable to b(; 
charged with mere sedition. They to whom the nation 
owed all that was prudent, as well as valiant in its present 
situation, were men of law and order in a peculiar dep'ee. 
The earliest care with those of Massachusetts, after the 
affair of Lexington, had been to prove that the Bi-itish 
troops were the first to fire; in other words, that the peoj)l<' 
were defending, and not transgressing, their rights. So 
now it became a matter of the highest interest to set the 
war in its true light, by raising the Americans from the 
position of subjects to that of a nation. There was but 
one way, and this the transformation of tlic colonies into 
states. 
-, , TIh' idea of iiid(M)('nd('n('e, however, was of slow 

Idea of I ' ' 

jndcpend- growth. The Mecklcuburg declaration, as we have 
read, found no favor. The general, if not the 

(220) 



DECLAHATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 221 

universal, sentiment was still in favor of reconciliation. 
" During the course of my life," said John Jay in later 
years, " and until after the second petition of Congress in 
1775, I never heard an American of any class or of any 
description express a wish for the independence of the 
colonies." But when that petition of Congress to the king 
was rejected, when the English government, in consequence, 
pledged itself to continue its system of oppression, then the 
resolution of the colonies rose, all the more determined for 
having been delayed. 

Nearly a year had elapsed since the North Caro- 
Caraiina liwians of Mccklcnburg county made their declara- 
and vir- tion, wlicu the North Carolinians of the entire 
colony united in authorizing their delegates in Con- 
gress to concur with those of the other colonies in declaring 
independence, (April 23, 1776.) A few weeks afterwards, 
(May 15,) the Virginians instructed their delegates to 
propose a declaration of independence to Congress. 

Congress had already committed itself. Its rec- 
^^^^^ ' ommendations of the year previous to some of the 
colonies, that they should set up governments for them- 
selves, had just been extended to all. It had also voted 
" that the exercise of every kind of authority under the 
crown should be totally suppressed," (May 15.) What 
else was this than to pronounce the colonies independent 
states ? Subsequent resolutions and declarations were but 
the carrying out of the decision already made. 
Hesita- But as it had not been made, so it was not car- 
tion. ried out without hesitation. More than one earnest 
mind, bent upon independence in the end, considered the 
course of things thitherward to be much too hurried. " My 
countrymen," wrote Washington, (April 1,) "from their 
form of government, and their steady attachment hereto- 
fore to royalty, will come reluctantly into the idea of inde- 
19* 



222 TATIT ITT. 17G:M797. 

])on<l(^no(^ ; ])iit tliiK* and pci-sccutiou briii^ many Avondorful 
tilings tu })ass." He was ri;:!il ; llio sjiii'ils and numbers 
of those resolved npon immediati; ind(})endenee inei'eased 
apace 

Leo's res- The instructions of Virginia were soon obeyed. 
oiution. Upon the journals of C()n<2;ress, under date of June 
7, there occurs an affecting entry of " certain resolutions 
respecting independency being moved and seconded." No 
names are mentioned, no words of the resolutions are 
recorded. It is as if Congress had felt its own feebleness 
in comparison with the solemnity of the cause, and so 
deei)ly, as to hold its breath and give no sign of what was 
passing. The mover was Richard Henry Lee, of Virghija, 
the seconder Jolin Adams, of Massachusetts ; and the reso- 
lution was, " That these United Colonies are, and of right 
ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are 
absolved from all allegiance to the IJritish crown ; and that 
all ])olitical connection between them and the state of Great 
Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." 

Opijosition was immediate and resolute. At its 

Dobatc. 

head stood John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, whose 
ten years' championship of colonial rights was assurance 
of his present faithfulness. The ground common to him 
and to the other opponents of the resolution was sim{)ly the 
prematureness of the measure. Nor does it seen) that they 
were altogether mistaken. "Whatever was urged by the 
advocates of the resolution, there were but seven colonies, 
the barest possible majority, to unite m favor of a proceeds 
ing so decisive, (June 10.) Instead of pressing their views, 
the party in favor of the resolution were wise enough to 
postpone its final disposition for several weeks. On the 
other side, the opposing party, so far from exciting the 
country against the resolution, appear to have decided that 
it should have a fair consideration, and that if the colonies 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 223 

rejecting it could be brought to favor it, they would be 
satisfied by the delay that had been interposed for delib- 
eration 

At the same time, a committee was appointed to 
teToT* prepare a declaration according to the tenor of the 
deciara- resolution. Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, John 
Adams, Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania, Roger 
Sherman, of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston, of New 
York, constituting the committee, united upon a draught by 
Jefferson. "Whether I had gathered my ideas," he said 
at a later time, " from reading or reflection, I do not know. 
I know only that I turned to neither book nor pamphlet 
while writing it. I did not consider it as any part of my 
charge to invent new ideas altogether, and to offer no senti- 
ment which had never been expressed before." Truth to 
be told, there was neither originality nor novelty in the 
production. Its facts, so far as they related to the course 
of Britain or of the British king, were pecuhar to the 
cause at issue. But the principles of human and of colo- 
nial rights were substantially such as Englishman after 
Englishman, as well as American after American, had 
asserted. The merit of the document was its appropriate- 
ness, its harmony with the ideas of a people who had risen 
to defend their birthright, rather than to win any thing not 
already theirs. The committee reported the declaration to 
Congress, (June 28.) 

Its adoption depended upon the adoption of the 
tiou resolution of which it was but the expression. The 
^i«pteci. j.ggQ|^^^jQjj ^^g therefore called up, (July 1.) A 
day's debate ensued; nor was the decision unanimous. 
Four delegations hung back ; one, New York, because it 
had received no instructions to vote upon so grave a ques- 
tion ; the other three, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and South 
Carolina, on account of their own reluctance. The South 



224 PART III. 1703-1797. 

Carolinians asked the po>Jt]>oneni(Mit of a (Icfinitive vote 
until the next morninij. Wlu-n the morning came, tliey 
witlulrew their op})()sition. The Pennsylvanian and Dela- 
ware delegates — some members retiring and others com- 
ing in — gave their voices likewise to the resolution. It 
thus received the unanimous vote of all the colonies, New 
York excepted, and she only for a few days, until her dele- 
gates could be instructed to concur with their colleagues, 
(July 9-15.) It was the 2d of July, 1776, the true date 
of American independence.* 
. , ^, The declaration followed as a matter of course. 

And tiio 

decianv It was delayed only to receive a few amendments, 
when it was adopted by the same vote as the reso- 
lution, (July 4.) 

^j^^ Thus were the colonies of Great Britain trans- 

united formed into the United States of America. "As 
free and independent states," were the words of the 
declaration, " they have full power to levy war, conclude 
peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all 
other acts and things which indejiendent states may of riglit 
do." No longer the subjects of Great Britain, but an 
equally independent nation, the United States were no 
longer open to imputations upon their course from abroad, 
or to doubts of it amongst themselves. When Admiral 
Lord Howe, and his brother, the general, commander-in- 
chief of the British army, offered amnesty in the king's 
name to all Americans who would return to their allegiance, 
the offer was regarded as a national insult by Congress. 
What had Great Britain to forgive, or who had asked for 
forgiveness ? 

The day after a committee had been appointed to draw 

* As the utmost discrepancy exists amongst the later histories as to 
these votes and dates, it seems advisable to state that Jeffersou and 
Adams are the authorities followed in tlie text. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 225 

Plan of "P *^® declaration, another, and a larger one, re- 
confed- ceived the chai-ge of preparing a plan of confedera- 
tion, (June 12.) This was reported a week after 
the adoption of the declaration, but no action was taken 
upon it, (July 12.) Circumstances postponed any decision ; 
nor were the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual 
Union, as they were styled, actually adopted by Congress 
until more than a year later, (November 15-17, 1777,) 
when they were recommended to the states for adoption. 
A long time elapsed before all the states complied. 
^, ., Meanwhile Congress continued to be the unitin^ij 

Unity ° o 

in Con- as wcU as the governing authority. Its members, 
g^^ss. renewed from time to time by their respective con- 
stituencies, met together as the representatives, not merely 
of the different states, but of the common nation. It was 
imperfectly, as we shall perceive, that Congress served the 
purpose of a central power. Its treaties, its laws, its 
finances, its armaments, all depended upon the consent and 
the cooperation of the states. But it continued to be the 
body in which the states were blended together, however 
variously, in one. 

g^^^^ The states were every where forming govern- 

constitu- ments of their own. Massachusetts took the lead, 

tiOnS. , t • 1 1 n ^ r-r, ^ 

as was observed, m the early summer of l/7o. 
Six or seven months afterwards. New Hampshire organized 
her assembly and council, with a president of the latter 
body, (1776.) The same year brought about the establish- 
ment of state authorities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina. 
Of the other states, Rhode Island and Connecticut were 
naturally content with the liberal governments which al- 
ready existed under their ancient charters. New York 
and Georgia set up their governments a year subsequently, 
(1777.) But the original forms underwent numerous and 



220 TART ITT. 17G3-1707. 

repeated mociyioations ; each state ainciulinj:^ it:? constitution 
or constriK'tin^ a new one, aeeonliiig to its exigencies. As 
a trenenil thing, each liad a governor, with or without a 
eouiicil. lor an exeentive; a eouneih or Senate, and a House 
of" lvej)resentatives, for a k'gishiture ; and one or more 
judicial bodies for a judiciary. Indeed, the states were 
nuich more thoroughly organized than the nation. 

Both constitutions and dechirations had arisen 

Divisions .. , ,. . t • • n->i T/r- 

amongst amidst the most distractmg divisions, ihe (hller- 
tiK'pfo- (.|^(.es in Congress, or amongst tlie leading class 

pie. O ' o ^ ^ o 

throughout the country, were trifling in comparison 
with the factions of the people as a wliole. On this side 
were flaming patriots, who thought nothing done unless 
outcry and force were employed ; on that were selfish and 
abject spirits, thinking that nothing should be done at all. 
Tories, or loyalists, abounded in one place ; in another, 
rioters and mai-auders ; every where dark plots were laid, 
dark deeds perpetrated. The greater was the work of 
those, the few, the wise, and the devoted, who led the 
nation through its strifes to independence. 



CHAPTER IV. 

War, continued. 

Second Period. 

Three The War of independence naturally divides itself 

periods, jnto three periods. Of these, the first has been de- 
scribed in a preceding chapter, as beginning with the arm- 
ing of Massachusetts, in October, 1774, and extending to 
the recovery of Boston, in March, 1776 — a period of a 
year and a half, of which something less than a year, dat- 
ing from the affrays at Lexington and Concord, was actually 
a period of war. We are now to go through the second 
and third periods. 

Charac- '^^^ sccoud period is of little more than two years 
teiistics —from April, 1776, to July, 1778. The chief 
ond peri-'^ points to characterize it are these, namely, that the 
od. main operations were in the north, and that the 

Americans fought their battles without allies. 
Rece tion "^^^ Declaration of Independence was transmitted 
of the Dec- to the commauder-in-cliief, with the request of Con- 
gress to " have it proclaimed at the head of the 
army." It was what both commander and army had been 
waiting for. " The general hopes " — thus ran the order of 
the day — " that this important event will serve as a fresh 
incentive to every officer and soldier to act with fidelity and 
courage, as knowing that now the peace and safety of his 
country depend, under God, solely on the success of our 

(227) 



228 TAUT 111. 170;i-17'J7. 

arms, and that he is now in the service of a state possessed 
of sulfR-ient power to reward his merit and jidvanee him to 
the hij^hest honors of a fn-e country," (July D.) On the 
same day, Washington wrote to the president of O^ngi-ess : 
''I caused the Declaration to be prochiinu'd ht'fore all the 
army under my inniicdiate connnand, and have the j)lrasure 
to inform Congress that the measure seemed to have their 
most hearty assent ; the expressions and behavior, both of 
ollicers and men, testifying their warmest approbation of it." 
Tiie adliesion of the army was one thing; their obedience 
to the insj)iration which their commander suggested was 
another. But, for the moment, a new impulse seemed to be 
felt by all. 

, A bi-illiant feat of arms had preceded the dec- 

Dtfenco of * 

ciiaricd- laration. The anticipated descent upon the south- 
ern coast was made off Charleston, by a British 
force, partly land and partly naval, under the command of 
General Clinton and Admiral Parker. The Americans, 
chiefly militia, were under General Lee. Fort Sullivan,* a 
few miles below Charleston, became the object of attack. 
It was so gallantly defended, the fort itself by Colonel 
Moultrie, and an adjoining battery by Colonel Thomson, 
that the British were obliged to abandon their expedition 
and retire to the north, (June 28.) A long time passed 
beibre the enemy reappeared in the south. 
, - Meanwhile Washington had transferred his nunr- 

Lfiss of ci 1 

Ntw ters from Boston to New York, (April 13,) which 
he was busy in fortifying against the expected foe. 
Troojis from Ilalii^ix, under General Howe, joined by 
British and Hessians under Admiral Howe, and by the dis- 
comfited forces of the southern exjiedition, landed at various 
times on Staten Island, to the number of between twenty 

♦ Afterwards Fort Moultrie. 



WAE,, CONTINUED. 229 

and thirty thousand. The number of the Americans was 
considerably less. After long delays, the enemy crossed to 
Long Island, and routed the American detachments under 
General Putnam, (August 27.) A speedy retreat to New 
York Island alone saved the Americans from a surrender. 
A fortnight after, the British crossed in pursuit, the ad- 
vanced posts of the Americans actually flying before them, 
(September 15.) The city of New York was at once evac- 
uated by Washington, who led his forces towards the north. 
" We are now encamped," he writes, " with the main body 
of the army on the Heights of Haerlem, where I should 
hope the enemy would meet with a defeat in case of an 
attack, if the generality of our troops w ould behave with 
tolerable bra\'ery. But experience, to my extreme afflic- 
tion, has convinced me that this is rather to be wished for 
than expected." He did not write thus without good rea- 
son. Little besides incompetency and desertion on the part 
of his men had attended his vain attempt to save New 
York. 

Loss succeeded loss. Two defeats on Lake 

Loss of 

Lake Champlain drove the Americans, under Benedict 
pi!iin and -^^nold, not Only from the lake, but from the fortress 
the lower of Crowu Point, (October 11-14.) In the neigh- 
borhood of New York, Washington was obliged to 
abandon one position after another ; the defeat of White 
Plains (October 28) making still farther retreat necessary. 
The forts upon the Hudson were presently lost ; Fort Wash- 
ington being taken with its garrison, (November 16,) and 
Fort Lee being evacuated, (November 20.) With a di- 
minishing araiy, in which, moreover, he had lost his confi- 
dence, the commander-in-chief decided to fall back from the 
banks of the Hudson into New Jersey. 
Loss of At the same time that the Americans were re- 
Newport. treating from New York, another of their chief 
20 



2ol> TAUT 111. 17(3o-17'J7. 

towns upim tlir scaboanl was cajttiircd. A larijo (Ictatli- 
mt'iit from tin- liriti.-li army took posscs-sioii of Newport 
■without H blow, (Dt'iTmber 8.) The ishiinl was overrun, 
and Providence blockaded. 

Dofonco of Losses increased defections. " Between you and 
NewJor- me," writcs W:i.shington on his retreat, "1 tiiink our 
**^' utfairs are in a very bad coii(liti<»n, — not so much 

from the apprehension of General Howe's army, as from 
till* detection of New York, tlie Jerseys, and Pennsylvani:u 
In sliort, the conduct of tlie Jerseys has been mo<t infamous. 
. . . If every nerve is not strained, . . . I tliink the 
panic is pretty nearly up," (December IH.) Disheartening 
as were the circumstances, he called around liini lii< more 
faitliful olhcers, and with them planned an achievement 
which seemed to recpiire all the encouragements of pros- 
perity and of sympathy. Followed by his handful of twen- 
ty-four hundred, while other detachments failed to keep up 
with him, he crossed the Delaware amid the ice and the 
cold of Christmas night, and on the following morning took 
a thousand Hessian prisoners at Trenttm. Tlie British 
immediately advanced against him. He could not meet 
them; for it would be destruction to his inferior numbers. 
He would not retreat before them; for it would be des])air 
to his gallant adherents. To avoid either alternative, lu^ 
marched, after a slight engagement, round the flank and 
upon the rear of the hostile army. Three hundred prison- 
ers, the safety and th(! inci-eased animation of his soldiers 
and his countrymen, were his reward. The oidy drawback 
was the loss of many brave spirits, amongst whom none was 
braver than General Mercer. Had Washington had but a 
few hundred fresh troops, he would have pushed on to 
Brunswick and destroyed th(i entire stores of the enemy. 
As it was, the rising of the militia, and tlie continu<Ml activity 
of Washington, even in his winter quarters, cleared the 



WAR, CONTINUED. 231 

State of the invaders, excepting at Brunswick and Amboy. 
Six months after, it was totally evacuated, (June 30, 1777.) 
All the time that Washington was thus retreating 
^rof " and advancing, he was enforcing the lesson of his 
^™^- experiences upon the government. He could do 
comparatively little, as he repeatedly informed Congress, 
for want of no less essential an instrument than an army. 
The American forces, during the campaign, had consisted in 
part of continental, or regular, and in part of militia troops, 
all raised on different terms, — that is, by different bounties 
and under different appointments, — by the different states. 
AVhat Washington wanted, what the country needed, was 
an army recruited, officered, equipped, and paid upon a 
national system. Nor was Congress insensible to the neces- 
sity. Before the declaration of independence, a board of 
war and of ordnance had been chosen from the members of 
Congress, to direct the military affiirs of the nation. After- 
wards, when the calamities of the autumn were weighing 
heavily. Congress ordered the formation of a continental 
army, 'sut the wants, thus attempted to be supplied, con- 
tinued. It was left enthely to the states to raise the troops 
and to appoint all but the general officers, while the pay 
and the tenn of enlistment proposed by Congress were 
wholly inadequate to the emergencies onAvhich Washington 
insisted. " The measure was not commenced," wrote he to 
his brother, " till it was too late to be effected, and then in 
such a manner as to bid adieu to every hope of getting an 
army from which any services are to be expected." " The 
unhappy pohcy of short enlistments," the need of " some 
greater encouragement" in pay, "the different states' nomi- 
nating such officers as are not fit to be shoeblacks," the 
tendency of the states to fall back from regular troops upon 
the militia, " a destructive, expensive, and disorderly mob," 

all these complaints from the commander-in-chief show 

that there was still no organization of the army. 



232 PAKT III. 17Gr^-l797. 

DictAtor- Alarmed by tin* di.-astcrs of the timo, Corifjrci^s 
si'U', re.>*()lvt'd, 'Mhat (Jcncral Washin<rt()n f>liall hv, and 
lie is licrt'by, vested with full, aiiijdc, and (■((iiij)lete powers" 
to raise, olheer, and «'(iuij) an army. To ])rovide for its 
necessities, he was autii()riz<Ml " to take, wherever he may 
be, whatever lie may want lor the use of the army, if the in- 
habitants will not s<ll it, allowin;.^ a reasonable j)rice for the 
same." He was al-o eonnnissioned '' to arrest and confine 
persons who r<'fuse to take the continental currency, or are 
otherwise disaffected to the American cause," (December 
27, 177().) This commission of a dictatorship, the last 
resort of the ineffective Conirress, and yet one of that body's 
wisest deeds, was to continue six months. It was after- 
wards renewed in much the same terms. But the powers 
were too dictatorial for such a man as Washington to exer- 
cise fully ; nor did the partial use which he made of them 
effect the object of so great importance in his eyes. The 
■war went on without any thing that could be called an actual 
army on the American side. 

P;,per The want of an army sprang, to a great degree, 

money. fi-Qi^-, the want of a treasury. Congress, voting all 
sorts of api)ropriations, had no way of meeting them but by 
continued issues of paper money. These soon began to 
depreciate ; the depreciation required larger amounts to be 
put forth ; and then the larger amounts added to the depre- 
ciation. When the value of the bills had sunk very low, 
an attempt was made to restore the currency by recalhng 
the old issues and sending out new ones ; but these, too, 
depreciated fast. Then lotteries were resorted to, and 
loans, both at home and abroad. The states were called in, 
and taxes raised by them were substituted for the national 
bill-. I)ut th(^ embarrassments of the finances were irrepa- 
rable. Kvery year added to tin.' debt and to the poverty of 
the nation. 



WAR, CONTINUED. 233 

. In the midst of trials so various and so profound, 

of Lafay- there was a thrill of hope. It was caused by the 
arrival! of a Frenchman, not yet twenty years old, 
who came bearing the sympathies of the old world to the 
new. " It w^as the last combat of liberty," wrote Lafayette, 
as he afterwards recalled his early inspirations. While he 
was hastening his departure from France, the news of the 
defeats in New York arrived, to throw the American cause 
into the shade, even in the eyes of the commissioners who 
had been sent to seek supplies in France. They would 
have dissuaded the young Frenchman from his projects. 
" We must be of good cheer," he ref)lied ; " it is in danger 
that I like best to share your fortunes." Escaj^ing the pur- 
suit of the government, w^ho would have prevented a man 
of so high a rank as the Marquis de Lafayette from com- 
promising them with the English by joining the Americans ; 
tearing himself from a brilliant home, and a wife as young 
in years as he, Lafayette crossed the sea in his own vessel, 
and reached the coast of Carolina in safety. He hastened 
to Philadelphia to offer his services to Congress, which, 
more and more wont to be behindhand in its mission, gave 
him a cold welcome through the committee of foreign 
affliirs. " The coldness was such," he wrote, " as to amount 
to a rejection ; but without being disconcerted by the man- 
ner of the members, I begged them to return to the hall, 
and to read the following note : ' After the sacrifices which 
I have made, I have the right to demand two favors : one 
is to serve at my own expense, the other to commence as a 
volunteer.' " Congress was touched, and appointed the 
generous stranger a major-general, (July 31, 1777.) He 
fo'.md no hesitation in the welcome which he received from 
Washington on their first meeting. " Make my head quar- 
ters your home," was the warm and appreciative greeting 
from the commander-in-chief to the young major-general. 
20* 



234 TAUT 111. 17G3-1797. 

Tho army and tlio people imitated Wasliinfrton's example, 
and «rav(' their coiilidciice to the iiohle Frriiclmum, with joy 
that thfir cause liad attractcMl such a ehainj)ion. 
,, , ^ The sprinj' of" 1777 was marked only by some 

of Hur- predatory exeiirsions from tli<* Hritish side into Con- 
^''^""' neetieut, and irom the Anglican into Long Island, 
n^he summer hi'oiiirht about the evacuation of New Jersey, 
as has Ix-cn mrntioncd. liut the J>ritish retired only to 
strike harder elsewhere. A well-appointed army nnder 
General Burgoyne was already on its march from Canada 
to Lake Chami)lain and tlie Hudson. As this descended, it 
Avas the plan of the Ijritish in New York to ascend the 
Hudson, meetiuLT the other a'rmy, and cutting off the com- 
munication between New KuLrhnid and her si>tcr states. 
It was a promising scheme, and the first movements in it 
were successful. Burgoyne took Ticonderoga, and swept 
the adjacent country, menacing Northern New York on his 
right, and the Green Mountain region on his left. General 
St. Clair, who had evacuated Ticond(.'roga, could make no 
resistance ; nor was his superior officer, General Schuyler, 
the commander of the northern army, in any position to 
check the advance of the enemy. But Schuyler bore up 
bravely ; and the officers under him did their part. A 
British detachment against Bennington was defeated by 
John Stark and his New England militia, (August 16.) 
Fort Schuyler was defended by continental troops, the 
British retiring on the api)roacli of reenforc(?ments under 
Ai-nold, (August 22.) Just as these reverses had checked 
the advance of Burgoyne, the gallant Schuyler was ousted 
of his command to make room for General Gates, a very 
iiit'tiior man, if not a very inferior general. He, profiting 
])y tlic j)r<'parations of his ))redecessor, met the British, and 
defeating them in two actions near Saratoga, (Se])tember 
I'J, Octul^.T 7,) coinp<'llcd thcia to surrender. Nearly six 



WAR, CONTINUED. 235 

thousand troops laid dovm. their arms ; but more than twice 
that number were now collected on the American side, 
(October 16.) 

While this triumph was won, losses were still 
the Hud- occurring elsewhere. The advance of the British 
son High- f^Qj^ Ncw York, after being strangely delayed, be- 
gan with the capture of the forts which protected 
the Highlands, (October 5-6.) But on proceeding some 
way farther up the river, the enemy found it advisable to 
return to New York. 

The main army of Great Britain was that which 

Loss of '' 

Phiiadei- Washington had to deal with in New Jersey and 
^ ^^^' the vicinity. " If General Howe can be kept at 
bay," wrote the commander-in-chief, " and prevented from 
effecting his principal purposes, the successes of General 
Burgoyne, whatever they may be, must be partial and tem- 
porary." After much uncertainty as to the intentions of 
the British general, he suddenly appeared in the Chesa- 
peake, and landing, prepared to advance against Philadel- 
phia, (August 25.) Washington immediately marched his 
entire army of about eleven thousand to stop the progress 
of the enemy. Notwithstanding the superior number — 
about seventeen thousand — opposed to him, Washington 
decided that battle must be given for the sake of Philadel- 
phia. After various skirmishes, a general engagement took 
place by the Brandywine, resulting in the defeat of the 
Americans, (September 11.) But so little were they dis- 
pirited, that their commander decided upon immediately 
fighting a second battle, which was prevented only by a 
great storm. Washington then withdrew towards the in- 
terior, and Howe took possession of Philadelphia, (Septem- 
ber 26.) Not yet willing to abandon the city, Washington 
attacked the main division of the British encamped at 
Germantown. At the very moment of victory, a panic 



236 TAUT III. 1703-1797. 

seized tlie Amoricans, and tliey retreated, (October 4.) 
There was no help tor Phihidcljihia ; it was deeidedly lost. 
Tht^ contrast hciwcen iIk; defeat of Burn^oyne 
toi^s 'e"m- ^^'^ ^^'^' ^<->^^ ^* lMiiladelj)hi;l was made a matter 
Larrass- Qf jvproach to the commander-in-chief. Let him 
raiUvc his own defence. " I was left," he says, " to 
fi;^ht two battles, in order, if possible, to save Philadelphia, 
with less numbers than composed the army of my anta<.'o- 
nist. . . . Had the same spirit pervaded the peo})le 
of this and tlie neiurhboring states, ... as the states 
of New York and New England, ... we might be- 
fore this time have had General Ilowe nearly in the 

situation of General Burgoyne, with this difference that 

the former would never have been out of reach of his siiips, 
whilst the latter increased his danger every step he took." 
More than this, Washington conducted his operations in a 
district where great disaifection to tlie American cause cut 
off sup})lies for the army, and intelligence of the enemy. 
To have done what he did, notwithstanding these embar- 
rassments, was greater than a victory. It was felt to be so 
at the time. " Nothing," said the French minister, the 
Count de Vergennes, to the American commissioners in 
France, — " nothing has struck me so much as General 
"Washington's attacking and giving battle to General 
Howe's array : to bring an army, raised within a year, 
to this, promises every thing." 

Loss of "^^^^ enemy were not yet secure in Phihidelphla, 

thf Dcia- the Delaware below the city being still in the pos- 
session of the Americans. Nor did they give it up 
without a struggle. Fort IMercer, upon the J(M'sey sliore, 
was gallantly defended under Lieutenant Colonel Christo- 
pher Greene against a Hessian attack, (October 22 ;) 
but when Fort MifWin, upon an island in the river, gave 
way after a noble struggle, under Lieutenant Colonel Sam- 



WAR, CONTINUED. 237 

uel Smith, (November 15,) Fort Mercer was evacuated, 
and the Delaware was lost, (November 20.) An attack 
meditated by the Americans upon Philadelphia, and one 
attempted by the British upon the American camp at 
Whitemarsh, (December 5-8,) resulted in nothing. The 
operations of 1777 were ended. 

Wickes'g C)ne enterprise of the year is not to be passed 
cruise, ovcr. Captain Wickes, of the cruiser Reprisal, 
after distinguishing himself in the "West Indies, sailed for 
France in the autumn of 1776. Encouraged by his suc- 
cess in making prizes in the Bay of Biscay, Wickes started 
on a cruise round Ireland in the following siunmer, (1777.) 
Attended by the Lexington and the Dolphin, the Reprisal 
swept the Irish and the English seas of their merchantmen. 
But on the way to America, the Lexington was captured, 
and the Reprisal, with the gallant Wickes and all his crew, 
was lost on the coast of Newfoundland. It was for the 
navy, of which Wickes was so great an ornament, that a 
national flag had been adopted in the summer of his cruise, 
(June 14.) 

" I see plainly," wrote Lafayette to Washington, 
aa;ainst ^^ the closc of the year, " that America can defend 
Washing- herself, if proper measures are taken ; but I begin 
to fear that she may be lost by herself and her own 
sons. When I was in Europe, I thought that here almost 
every man was a lover of liberty, and would rather die 
free than live a slave. You can conceive my astonishment, 
when I saw that toryism was as apparently professed as 
whiggism itself" " We must not," replied Washington, " in 
so great a contest, expect to meet with nothing but sun- 
shine." These mournful complaints, this cheerful answer, 
referred to an intrigue that had been formed against Wash- 
ington, for the purpose of displacing him from his com- 
mand. Generals Gates and Mifflin, both members of the 



238 PAJIT 111. 17G:M707. 

% 
board of war, lately organized, with Conway, a foreipfn 
irencral in the service, were at the liead of ;i eahal, wliich 
was secretly supjioi-icd l»y some mcinhcrs of Congress. 
Had their uinvortiiy i)lots i)revail«'d, iiad their anonymous 
letters to tlie civil authoriti«'s, and their underhand appeals 
to military men, succeeded, WiU^hington would have l)een 
supersede*! hy Gates or by Lee, it was uncertain wliich, 
both of British bii-th, both of far more selfishness tluui 
magiuuiimity, of far more ^pretension than power. Gates, 
as we shall read hereafter, met the most utter of all the 
defeats, Lee conducttid the most shameful of all the 
retreats, in which the Americans were involved. IIapi)ily 
for the struggling nation, these men were not its leaders. 
The cabal in which they were involved fell asunder ; yet 
without crushing them beneath its ruins. Tliey retained 
their offices and their honors, as well as Washington. 
Army Tlic army was full of quarrels. Sectional jeal- 

quiineis. Qusics wcrc activc, the northern man distrusting tlie 
southern, and the southern the northern. National jeal- 
ousies were equally rife, the American olficers o})posing 
the foreign, and the foreign officers the American. More 
serious, because more reasonable, were the angry feelings 
excited in the army against Congress, now for its inter- 
ference, and now for its neglect. Much ill will on both 
sides was excited by the question of half pay for life to the 
officers ; it being opposed in Congress, and settled only by 
a compromise of half pay for seven years after the conclu- 
sion of the war. Washington contended with all the intel- 
lectual and moral strength of his nature against the jeal- 
ousy which Congi-ess unhappily entertained of the army. 
" The prejudices of other countries," as he says, " have 
only gone to them [the troops] in time of peace. . . . 
It is our policy to be prejudiced against tliem in time of 
war ; though they are citizens, having all the ties and 
ijiterests of citizens." 



WAR, CONTINUED. 239 

The experience of the past twelvemonth had 
suffer- given Washington more confidence in his soldiers. 
ings- jjg Yy^^ i^r^^ time to learn their better points, their 
enthusiasm, their endurance, their devotion. The winter 
following the loss of Philadelphia was one of cruel suffer- 
ings, and the manner in which they were borne formed a 
new link between the troops and the commander. His 
remonstrances agamst the jealousies of Congress are accom- 
panied by representations of the agonies of the army. 
" Without arrogance or the smallest deviation from truth, 
it may be said that no history now extant can furnish an 
instance of an army's suffering such hardships as ours has 
done^ bearing them with the same patience and fortitude. 
To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, with- 
out blankets to lie on, without shoes, (for the want of 
which their marches might be traced by the blood from 
their feet,) and almost as often without provisions as with 
them ; marching through frost and snow, and at Christmas 
taking up their winter quarters within a day's march of the 
enemy, witliout a house or hut to cover them, till they 
could be built, and submitting without a murmur, is a proof 
of patience and obedience which, in my opinion, can scarce 
be paralleled." This story, at once so heroic and so sad, is 
dated from Valley Forge. 

As ect Congress, meanwhile, though finding time to abet 

of Con- the enemies of Washington, and to suspect his faith- 
gicss. £^j followers, was far from active in promoting 
the interests of the nation. Great changes had taken 
place in the composition of the assembly. Many of the 
earlier members had retired, some to the offices of their 
respective states, some to the field, some to diplomacy, some 
to private life. But a very small number attended the 
sessions ; twenty-five or thirty making what was now con- 
sidered quite a full Congress. " America once had a repre- 
sentation," wrote Alexander Hamilton, one of Washington's 



210 I'AltT Hi. l7G;i-17'J7. 

;ii(N, from licjid ([iiartcrs, " that would do honor to any ajro 

oi- nation. 'Vlw present talliiif^ oil' is very ahinnin^^ and 

(hmLieroiis." 

The (lue-tion ot'tore'iLni alliances had been started 
Tridty ' • 

with at an early date. It met with very considerahle 
oj)|)«)sition. Th(^ more . earnest spirits thou^dit it 
humiliatini:; to eourt the protection ol' the European jtow- 
ers. They also thon^ht it more likely to increax- the dan- 
gers than the resources of the country to he drawn into 
the interests and the intri^jues of the old world. But as 
lime p;i<-(d, and the dilHculties of the war increjised, the 
tendency to iorei;iu connections grew stronger. IJelbre 
the declaration of independence, Silas Deane was sent 
to France, as an agent, with hints of an alliance. Kre he 
reached his destination, a secret subsidy had been promised 
to the Americans. Meanwhile a committee of Congress 
was ai)j)ointed "to prepare a plan of treaties to l)e proj)o>ed 
to foreign powers," (June, 177G.) Their ]dan being ado|)t- 
ed, Deane, Benjamin Franklin, an<l Arthur Lee, of Vir- 
ginia, were a])pointed commissioners to France, (Septem- 
ber ;) others being sent to Spain, Prussia, Austria, and 
Tuscany, (^December.) The French envoys, amongst 
wliom Deane gave place to John Adams, devoted ([uite 
as nmch attention to their own disputes as to the negotia- 
tions with which they were intrusted. But the disj)osition 
of France against her old enemy of England was too 
decided to require much dijdomacy on the ])art of America. 
After a year's delay, a treaty between the French king, 
l.ouis XVI., and the United vStates was made, (January ;30, 
February d, 1778,) and ratified, (I\Iay ').) 

„ . . , The news of the treaty broke like a thunderbolt 

Untish ... 

concilia- upou tlic British ministry. Three years had their 

armies, superior both in discii>line and in number, 

contended against the so-called reb(ds ; and what l»ad b('en 

gained ? A few towns on the seaboard. New York, New- 



WAR, CONTINUED. 241 

port, Philadelphia, the islands near New York, the island 
on which Newport stands, the lower banks of the Hudson 
and of the Delaw^are. This was all. Nothing had been, 
nothing, it must have almost seemed, could be, gained ex- 
cept upon the coast ; the interior w^as untenable, if not 
unconquerable. And what had been lost ? Tw^enty thou- 
sand troops, hundreds of vessels, millions of treasure ; to 
say nothing of the colonial commerce, once so precious, and 
now so worthless. It might well strike the ministry, that 
they must win back their colonies by some other means 
than war, especially if the French were to be parties in the 
strife. Accordingly, Lord North laid before ParUament a 
bill renouncing the purpose of taxing America, and another 
providing for commissioners to bring about a reconciliation, 
(February 17.) The bills were passed, and three commis- 
sioners were appointed to act with the military and the 
naval commanders in procuring the submission of the 
United States. To their proposals Congress returned an 
answer on the anniversary of Bunker Hill, refusing to enter 
into any negotiations until the independence of the nation 
was recognized. The commissioners appealed from Con- 
gress to the states ; but in vain. Their mission was fruit- 
less, except in proving that the United States would never 
relapse into British colonies. 

Desirous of concentrating his forces before the 

Recovery <=" 

of Phiia- French appeared in the field. Sir Henry Clinton, 
*^^' '^' now the British commander-in-cliief, evacuated 
Philadelphia, (June 18.) Washington instantly set out 
in pursuit of the enemy. Coming up with them in a few 
days, he ordered General Lee, commanding the van of the 
army, to begin the attack in the morning. Lee began it 
by making a retreat, notwithstanding the remonstrances of 
Lafayette, who had held the command until within a few 
hours. But for Washington's coming up ia time to arrest 
21 



212 PART III. 17G3-1797. 

tlie Hight of tho troops uiulcr Lee, and to protect the ad- 
vance of his own soldiers, the army would have been lo.st. 
As it was, he i))nne(l his line and drove the British from 
the field of JNIonnionth, (June 28.) They stole away in the 
night, and reached New York with still more loss from de- 
sertion than from battle. 

At about the same time, a Virginia expedition, 

Posses- ^ '^ \ 

sioa of under the command of Major Clarke, surprised the 
iimois. j3j.-j-^Jj garrison at Kaskaskia, (July 4,) and took 
possession of the surrounding villages. The more important 
post of Vincennes was afterwards secured by the aid of its 
French inhabitants.* The country was organized as a part 
of Vii'ginia, under the name of Illinois county. 
Fnd of Thus the end of the period finds the Americans 
tiie conquerors as well as the British. If the latter have 

poiio . ■^^^y^ York and Newport, with their neighborhoods, 
tlie former are in possession of Illinois. The main forces on 
either side are again where they were at the beginning of the 
period, save that the British are now in New York, and 
the Americans waiting their opportunity to retake the city. 
" It is not a little pleasing, nor less wondeiful to contem- 
plate," wrote Washington from his camp at White Plains, 
" that after two years' manoeuvring, and undergoing tlie 
strangest vicissitudes that perhaps ever attended any one 
contest since the creation, both armies are brought back to 
the very point they set out from, and that the offending 
party at the beginning is now reduced to the use of the 
spade and pickaxe for defence. The hand of Providence 
has been so conspicuous in all this, that he need be worse 
than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that 
has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations." 

* It was subsequently surprised by a British party, but recovered by 
Clarke in the beginning of the following year. 



CHAPTER V. 

War, continued. 

Third Period. 

Charac- TiiE third and last period of the war extends 
teristics. fj.Qj-j-^ j^i^^ 1778, to January, 1784, five years and a 
half. Its characteristics are, the alliance of the French 
with the Americans, and the concentration of the more 
important operations in the Southern States. These points, 
it is to be noted, are precisely the opposite of those which 
characterized the preceding period. 
_, ., ^ The first minister of France to the United States, 

iiiilure to ' 

recover M. Gerard, came accompanied by a fleet and army, 
ewpoi . ^^j-j^jgj, D'Estaing, (July.) " Unforeseen and unfa- 
vorable circumstances," as Washington wrote,." lessened the 
importance of the French services in a great degree." In 
the first place, the arrival was just late enough to miss the 
opportunity of surprising the British fleet in the Delaware, 
not to mention the British army on its retreat to New York. 
In the next place, the French vessels proved to be of too 
great draught to penetrate the channel and cooperate in an 
attack upon New York. Thus disappointing and disap- 
pointed. D'Estaing engaged in an enterprise against New- 
port, still in British hands. It proved another failure. 
But not through the French alone ; the American troops 
that were to enter the island at the north being greatly be- 
hindhand. The same day that they took their place, under 

(243> 



211 PART III. 170:^1707- 

Sullivan, Groono, and LafaycKi*. thf Froiicli ]o{\ theirs; at 
the U)\VL'r eiul (»l"thi' i>laii(l in oj-dcr to incct the British fleet 
arriving from New York, (August 10.) A :H'\vvv storm 
j)reventc'(l more than a j)artial engagement; but DKstaing 
returned to New])ort only to i)U'ad tlie injuries received in 
the gale as compelling his retirement to Boston for repairs. 
The orders of the French govei'nment had been peremptory 
t!iat in case of any damage to the iieet it should put into 
})ort at once. So hir was D'Estaing from avoiding action 
on i)ersonal grounds, that when Lafayette hurried to Bos- 
ton to persuade his countrymen to return, the command<'r 
oflered to serve as a volunteer until the fleet should he refit- 
ted. The Americans, however, talked of desertion and of 
inefriciency, — so freely, indeed, as to affront their faitlilul 
Lafayette. At the same time, large numbers of them imi- 
tated the very course which they censured, by deserting 
their own army. The remaining forces retreated from their 
lines to the northern end of the island, and, after an en- 
gagement, withdrew to the mainland, (August 30.) It 
required all the good offices of Lafayette, of Washington, 
and of Congress, to keep the peace between the Americans 
and their allies. D'Estaing, soothed by the language of 
those whom he most respected, was provoked, on the other 
hand, by the hostility of the masses, both in the army and 
amongst the people. Collisions between his men and the 
Bostonians kept up his disgust ; and, when his fleet was re- 
I)aired, he sailed for the West Lidies, (November.) 

The summer and autumn passed awav without 

Britiali « i . n i \ • 

and In- ^"7 further exertions of moment upon the Ameiican 
dianrav- gjj^,^ Q,^ jj^^^. p.^,.^ of the British, there was nothing 

ages. ' " 

attempted that would not have been far better unat- 
tempted. INIarauding parti<'s from Newport went against 
New Bedf(>rd and Fairhaven. Others from N<'W York 
went agiiinst Little Egg Harbor. Tories and Indians — 



WAR, CONTINUED. 245 

" a collection of banditti," as they were rightly styled by 
Washington, descended from the northern country to wreak 
massacre at Wyoming and at Cherry Valley. The war 
seemed to be assuming a new character: it was one of 
ravages unworthy of any cause, and most unworthy of such 
a cause as the British professed to be. 

Affairs were at a low state amongst the Ameri- 

Declineof . r« a • ?> . 

American caus. " The common mterests of America, wrote 
affairs. "Washington at the close of 1778, "are mouldering 
and sinking into irretrievable ruin." Was he who had 
never despaired at length despairing ? There was reason 
to do so. " K I were to be called upon," he said, " to draw 
a picture of the times and of men, from what I have seen, 
heard, and in part know, I should in one word say that idle- 
ness, dissipation, and extravagance seem to have laid fast 
hold upon most of them ; that speculation, peculation, and 
an insatiable thirst for riches seem to have got the better 
of every other consideration, and almost of every order of 
men ; that party disputes and personal quarrels are the 
great business of the day ; whilst the momentous concerns 
of an empire, a great and accumulating debt, ruined finances, 
depreciated money, and want of credit, which, in its conse- 
quences, is the want of every thing, are but secondary con- 
siderations, and postponed from day to day, from week to 
week, as if our affairs wore the most promising aspect. 
After drawing this picture, which from my soul I believe to 
be a true one, I need not repeat to you that I am alarmed, 
and wish to see my countrymen roused." This gloomy 
sketch is of the government — Congress and the various 
officials at Philadelphia. What was true of the govern- 
ment was true of the people, save only the diminishing 
rather than increasing class to which we have frequently 
referred, as constituting the strength of the nation. 

A border warfare had been carried on during two suc- 
21 * 



24G PART III. 17G:M797. 

Loss of ccssive summor.s (1 777-7 .s,) betwoi^n East Florida 
Georgia. .^,jj| (^;,.,„.oi;i. Tj^. IJntisii jiiuliDriiios >c\n parties 
from their garri>uiis, on one side, and (»n the uilier, tlie 
Anierieans, cliieHy Georgians and Caroliniun.■^, inu>tered 
their luihlia. JN'otliing, liowever, but ahirin and bloodshed 
had been accomplished, wiien, at the close of 1778, a serious 
invasion of Georgia was planned by the British eonnnander. 
Twenty-five hundred troops from New York, under the 
conunand of Lieutenant Colonel Campbell, landed near Sa- 
vannah. Hardly nine hundred Americans, under General 
Howe, were there to opi)ose them ; and, after a short en- 
counter, the town was taken, (December 29.) A few days 
later, the only other strong place upon the seal)oard, Sun- 
bury, surrendered to a force of two thousand British, ad- 
vancing, under General Prevost, from P'lorida. Prevost, 
taking command of the united forces of the British, sent 
Colonel Campbell against Augusta. The expedition, suc- 
cessful at first, w^as soon so threatened by the operations of 
various partisans, and by those of General Lincoln, the 
commander of the continental troops, that Campbell evacu- 
ated Augusta after a fortnight's possession. Prevost then 
advanced from Savamiah. An American force, under 
General Ashe, was routed at Brier Creek, and Georgia was 
lost, (^lareh 4, 1779.) A few months later. Sir James 
"Wright, the royal governor at the begiuning of the war, 
retiii'iied and set np the ])rovin('ial government once more. 
._ - , The conqueror of Georgia asi)ired to become the 

Defence of ' r< l 

ciiiiries- c()n<|ueror of Carolina. With chosen troops, and a 
numerous body of Indians, Prevost set out against 
Charleston. He was met before that town by the legion 
under Count Pulaski, a Pole who had been in the American 
service for nearly two years ; but Pulaski's men were scat- 
tered, and Prevost pressed on. The militia, assembled for 
the defence of the place, were under the orders of Governor 



WAR, CONTINUED. 247 

Rutledge ; the continental troops under those of Charleston's 
earlier defender, Moultrie. But the disparity of forces was 
fearful, and proposals for surrender were under considera- 
tion, when the approach of General Lincoln with his army 
compelled the British to retire, (May 12.) It was more 
than a month, however, before they left the adjacent coun- 
try. They then withdrew to Savannah and St. Augustine. 
The Americans were by no means disposed to 

Failure to . , '' ^ 

recover acquiescc ui the loss of Georgia. On the reappear- 
Savan- ^^^^ ^f ^j^g French fleet, under D'Estain^, after a 

nan. ' ^' 

successful cruise in the West Indies, he consented to 
join General Lincoln in an attack on Savannah, (Septem- 
ber.) But he was too apprehensive of being surprised by 
the British fleet, as well as too desirous of getting back to 
the larger operations in the West Indies, to be a useful ally. 
The impatience of D'Estaing precipitated an assault upon 
the town, in which Pulaski fell, and both - the French and 
the Americans suffered great loss, (October 9.) The 
French sailed southward ; the Americans retired to the inte- 
rior, leaving Savannah to the enemy. 

Previously to the events last described, Viroinia 

Invasion '' ' o 

ofYir- had been invaded. An expedition from New York, 
ginid. landing at Portsmouth, plundered that town and all 
the neighboring country. Not a blow was struck against 
the foe. But booty rather than conquest being their ob- 
ject, they withdrew, (May.) 

The operations in the north durino; the year were 

Operations ^ o ./ 

in the of altogether inferior importance. As the main 
body of the British continued at New York, Wash- 
ington kept his small army in that vicinity. But he had no 
plans of decisive action. On making his preparations at 
the beginning of the year, he resolved upon an offensive 
course towards the Indians of Western New York, whose 
repeated hostilities, in conjunction with the British, were 



248 TAUT III. 17t;:5-l7'.)7. 

cluistisod by an American expedition under rieneral Sulli- 
van, (Au;^ust and September.) In relation to the liritisli, 
AViUsliington could hold only a defensive altitude. Yet, 
wlien Stony Point and Verplanck Point were taken, to the 
great peril of tbe Highland fortifications, as well as to the 
great interru))tion of intercourse with ^'ew England, Wju^li- 
ington decide(l upon striking a blow. A gallant party, 
under the gaUant AVayne, surprised the strong works which 
the liriii>h had constructed at Stony Point, (July 15,) and, 
though (jl)Hged to evacuate them, destioyed them, and re- 
covered the Hudson, that is, the part which had been 
recently taken I'rom the Americans. The fbrlilication of 
West Point was undertaken, as an additional safeguard. In 
other directions, beyond the immediate reach of Washing- 
ton, although never beyond his interest and his influence, the 
movements of the year were still less effective. Connecti- 
cut was invaded by a British force from New York, 
and great was the devastation, yet not without resistance, 
(July.) At the same period, a force from Massachusetts 
assailed a post which the British had taken on the Penob- 
scot, but with great loss. Some months later, ai)prehen- 
sions of the French fleet mduced the British commander 
to draw in his outposts on th(; Hudson and to evacuate 
Newport, (October.) These movements, effected without 
loss, or even collision, were the only ones of any strong 
bearing upon the issue of the war. 

Jones's I'^ai' ^^^'^y? upon tlic coasts of Great Britain itself, 

cruises, ^jj^. ^y.^y ^ye^^ ,^y^^, extended. Following in tlie track 
of the brave Wickes, John Paul Jones sailed in the Hanger 
from France to the coast of P^ngland and Scotland, entering 
Whitehaven, where he took the fortifications and fired tlie 
shii)ping of the fort. This was in the spring of 1778. In 
the sj)ring of the following year. Jones being then in 
France, it was proposed that he should take the naval com- 



WAR, CONTINUED. 249 

mand of an expedition in which Lafayette was to be the 
general-in-chief, the object being nothing less than the inva- 
sion of England. This project failing, Jones got to sea in 
summer, with a squadron of seven sail, from a French port. 
Although much embarrassed by the insubordinate conduct 
of one of his chief officers, Jones pursued his cruise with 
great success along the Scotch coast. Thence descending 
on the eastern side of England, he encountered a fleet of 
merchantmen, under convoy of two vessels of war. The 
two were at once engaged — the larger, the Serapis, by 
Jones's Bonhomme Richard, and the smaller, the Countess 
of Scarborough, by the Pallas, under Captain Cottineau. 
It was a fearful and a remarkable action. Jones was ex- 
posed not only to the fire of his antagonist, but to that of one 
of his own vessels, from the treachery or the incompetency 
of its commander ; and so completely battered was his ship, 
the Bonhomme Richard, that it went down sixteen hours 
after the surrender of the Serapis. The other British ves- 
sel also surrendered, (September 23, 1779.) The brave 
victor made his way safely to Holland.* 
Spain in The War was gathering fresh combatants. Spain, 
the war. after vpinly offering her mediation between Great 
Britain and France, entered into the lists on the side of the 
latter power, (June, 1779.) There was no thought of the 
United States in the transaction. John Jay, hastily ap- 
pointed minister to Spain, (September,) could not obtain a 
recognition of American independence. But the United 
States hailed the entrance of a new nation into the arena. 
It was so much against their enemy, however httle it was 
for themselves. 

The beginning of 1 780 beheld large detachments from 
the British at New York, imder Clinton, the commander-in- 

* He did not return to America till the beginning of 1781. 



2o(.) PAin' III. 170;M797. 

- . cliief himself, on their wnx southward. Charh'ston, 

Loss of •' " 

St.uth twico ahvady assailed in vain, was tlie lirst obj(;ct. 

Carolina, riii • i -ii* i iit->i •. 

ilie siL'gc b(')Lraii witli live tliousand J5i-itish aganist 
liftticn liundrcd Americans, (Aj)ril 11 ;) the numbers after- 
wards increasing to eight thousand on tlie liritish side and 
three thousand on the American. The naval forces of the 
attaek'and the defence wx're still more unequah Lincoln, 
yet in eonunand of the southern army, made a brave resist- 
ance, but was of course overpowered. The loss of Charles- 
ton (May 12) was followed by the loss of the state, or the 
greater ]):irt of it. Three expeditions, the chief under Lord 
Coi'uwaliis, penetrated into the interior witliout meeting any 
re})ulse. So complett; was the prostration of South Caro- 
lina, that Clinton returned to New York, leaving Cornwallis 
to retain and to extend the conquest which had been made, 
(June.) 

All was not yet lost. The partisans of South 

J- allure to •' ^ 

movf^ Carolina, like those of Georgia, held out in the 
up})er country, whence they made frequent descents 
upon the British posts. The names of Thomas Sumter 
and Francis Marion recall many a chivalrous enterj)rise. 
Continental troops and uiilitia were marching from the north 
under De Kalb, the companion of Lafayette in his voyage, 
and under Gates, who assumed the command in North Car- 
olina, (July.) Thence entering South Carolina in the 
hope of recovering it from its coiKpierors, Gates encountered 
Cornwallis near Camden, and, although much superior in 
numbers, was routed. — the militia of North Cai'olina and 
Virginia leaving the fi!W continental troo])s to bear the 
brunt of the battle in vain. The brave De Kalb f(dl a sac- 
rifice upon tlie 11. -Id. (August If..) Two days afterwards, 
Siiinter was ?urpri-ed by the British cavalry under Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Tarleton. and his party scattered. Marion 
was a! the sann; time driven into North Carolina. 



WAR, CONTINUED. 251 

Aband ^^ Seemed as if the south were given up to the 

mentof foe. So little exertion to defend it was made 

. ^ ^j^^ other portions of the country, that a rumor 
gained ground of an intention to abandon South Caro- 
lina and Georgia altogether. The French minister, De 
La Luzerne, wrote home of still greater sacrifices in con- 
templation. He mentions the possibility of a proposal from 
the British that the other states should be acknowledged to 
be independent if the Carolinas, both North and South, and 
Georgia, were surrendered. Such a proposition was never 
made ; but it must have been thought of and talked about. 
Such, too, were the sectional divisions in and out of Con- 
gress, that there were some to whom the abandonment of 
the south wore no look of horror or of wrong. 
Its de- Fortunately there were others, and a far greater 

fence. number, who never hesitated at the necessity of de- 
fending their southern brothers. Washington, still on the 
watch about New York, turned anxious glances to the oper- 
ations at the south. " The affairs of the Southern States,'* 
he wrote to the president of Congress, " seem to be so ex- 
ceedingly disordered, and their resources so much exhausted, 
that whatever may be undertaken there must chiefly depend 
on the means carried from hence. K these fail, we shall be 
condemned to a disgraceful and fatal inactivity.'* When 
Gates proved incompetent to the work, Washington ap- 
pointed his best officer. Major General Greene, to save the 
invaded states and to keep the country whole, (October.) 
Darkness ^^ ^^^^ ^ ^^^^^ time, cvcu in the north. Washing- 
in the tou had looked forward, at the opening of the year, 

to an active campaign ; but the hopes of his heart 
died out one by one. Lafayette, returning from a year s 
absence in France, where he had been unwearied in uphold- 
ing the interests of America, announced the coming of an 
armament, both land and naval, from his country. This 



2.">2 TAUT III. 170;i-17ii7. 

airivcd at Newport. (.Jul},) and tliere it remained diir- 
in}; the rest of the year, blockaded by a British fleet. 
\Va.>hin.i!:ton's phinsof an attack with the French upon New 
York fell tlirougli, to his great disapimintment. AVhat the 
French thought of the state of things may be gathered from 
a despatch of their commander, the Count de KochaDibeau, 
to tl»e* government. " I'pon our arrival here," he writes, 
" the country was in consternation. Tin.' pa})er money had 
fallen to sixty lor one. ... I landed with my staff 
uitlioul tro()i)s; nobody aj)})eared in the streets; those at 
the windows looked sad and depressed. . . . Send us 
ti-oops, ships, and money, but do not depend upon this peo- 
1)1(' or ujxtn their means."* It was soon afterwards that 
>\'ashington wrote, " If either the temper or the resources 
of the country will not atlmit of an alteration, we may ex- 
pect soon to be reduced to the humiliating condition of 
seeing the cause of America in America upheld by foVeign 
arms." " But I give it as my opinion," he Avrote again, 
*' that a foreign loan is indispensably necessary to the con- 
tinuance of the war." The autumn came, and Benedict 
Arnold, one of the olficers upon whom the military fortunes 
of the nation had most depended, all but succeeded in 
betraying West Point to the enemy, (September.) He 
escaped, leaving Major Andre, with whom he had been 
tr<'ating, to die the death of a spy. A descent, partly of 
British, partly of loyalist Americans, and partly of Indians, 
surprised the fortresses and devastated the fields of Northeni 
N»*w York, (October.) Disaster was succeeding disaster, 
when Congress, listening to the exhortations of the com- 
mander-in-chief, again addressed itself to the organization 
of an Jinny. It proposed enlistments of soldiers to continue 



* Mr. Sparks's translation, in Washington's Writings, vol. vii. pp. 
501-506. 



WAR, CONTINUED. 253 

during the war, and half pay of officers to continue after- 
wards and for life ; but it was only a proposal. More effec- 
tive were the exertions of the women of Pennsylvania, 
under the guidance of Mrs. Reed, the wife of the Pennsyl- 
vanian president, and those of New Jersey, led by Mrs. 
Dickinson, who raised generous subscriptions * to meet the 
necessities of the American army. " The spirit that ani- 
mated the members of your association," wrote Washington 
to the ladies of Philadelphia on the death of Mrs. Reed, 
" entitles them to an equal place with any who have pre- 
ceded them in the walk of female patriotism. It embellishes 
the American character with a new trait." 
Light in CornwalHs, conqueror of South Carolina, pre- 
tiie pared to march upon North Carolina. To secure 

the upper country, he detached a trusted officer, 
Major Ferguson, Avith a small band of regular troops and 
loyalists, in addition to whom large accessions were soon 
obtained from the tory part of the population. These 
recruits, like all of the same stamp, were full of hatred 
towards their countrymen on the American side ; and fierce 
were the ravages of the party as Ferguson marched on. 
Aroused by the agony of the country, a considerable num- 
ber of volunteers gathered, under various officers — Colonel 
Campbell, of Virginia, Colonels Cleaveland, Sevier, and 
Shelby, of North Carolina, and others. Nine hundred chosen 
men hastened to overtake the enemy, whom they found en- 
camped in security on King's Mountain, near the frontier of 
South Carolina. The Americans never fought more resolute- 
ly. Ferguson was killed, and his surviving men surrendered 
at discretion, (October 7.) The march of Cornwallis was 
instantly checked ; instead of advancing, he fell back. Nay, 



* In paper money, upwards of $300,000 ; but in specie from $5000 to 
$•7000. 

22 



254 PART 111. 1703-1797. 

mure ; ii force wliicli had been sent iroin New York to estab- 
lish itsieU'ni Virginia was summoned by Cornwalhs to his aid. 
The year iiad been marked by important move- 
ill the ments in Europe. Ihe Empress Catiiarnie oi Ivus- 
^^'"^' sia J)ut forth a deehiration of indf'ix'ndrnce, as it 

may be styled, in behalf of the neutral states, by proelaini- 
in"- their rii^lit to earry on their eommeree in time of war 
exactly as in time of peace, i)rovidi'd they conveyed no con- 
traband articles. This doctrine was wiiolly at varhmee 
witii the riixhts of seardi and of blockade, as asserted by 
England in relation to neutral nations. But it prevail<'d ; 
and a league, by the name of the Armed Neutrality, soon 
comprehended nearly the whole of Europe. Little, how- 
ever, was effected by it; the Empress of Russia herself 
called it her Armed Nullity. Yet the circle of hostility 
against England went on widening. On the accession of 
Holland to the Armed Neutrality, Great Britain, having 
just before captured a minister to the Dutch from the United 
States, — Henry Laurens, of South CaroHna, — declared war 
at the close of 1780. But Holland no more became an 
ally of the L'nited States than Si)ain had done, 
j.j^.^j The "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual 

adoption Union between the States," adopted by Congress 
Ct.ufVd- towards the end of 1777, were still in abeyance. 
tTiiiiun. rpj^y states to whom they were sent for api)roval had 
found many objections to the plan of union. Some of the 
larger states disliked the right of the smaller states to an 
(Mjual vote with themselves in Congress. The smaller op- 
posed the claims of the larger to the unoccupied lands of the 
country, alleging that what was won by common exertion 
should be turned to common advantage. One state — New 
Jersey — had the wisdom to object that Congress, or the gen- 
eral government, was not endowed with suificient power, 
especially on the matter of regulating the trade of the couu- 



WAR, CONTINUED 255 

try. These and other difficulties were but slowly sur- 
mounted. When all the rest had been removed, the ques- 
tion of the unoccupied lands was still a point upon which 
the articles hung motionless. The magnanimity with which 
this last obstacle was removed is a bright episode in the 
history of the times. New Jersey was the first of the 
smaller states to come into the Confederacy, relying upon 
the justice of her more powerful sisters, (November 20, 
1778.) First of the landed states to cede her claims for 
the general welfare was New York, (February 19, 1780.) 
Her generosity, and the confidence of such states as New 
Jersey, induced the hitherto reluctant Maryland to waive 
her objections and sign the Articles. The thirteen were 
then complete, (March 1, 1781.) 

Its iuef^ Congratulations were general, and well founded, 
ficiency. g^ f^^j. ^^ h^qj related to the closer union of the 
states. But nothing had been gained on the score of a na- 
tional government. On the contrary, something had been 
lost ; the powers of Congress being rather diminished than 
increased under the Articles of Confederation. Before their 
adoption, a majority of states decided a question ; now, nine 
out of the thirteen must be united to carry any measure. 
The half pay for life, for instance, that had been voted to 
the officers of the army, was reconsidered and refused by 
the Congress of the Confederation, for want of nine states to 
vote for its fulfilment. All this had been foreboded and 
lamented. " A nominal head, which at present is but an- 
other name for Congress, will no longer do," — thus wrote 
"Washington. His aide-de-camp, Hamilton, wrote that Con- 
gress must be clothed with projier authority, " by resuming 
and exercising the discretionary pov,crs originally vested 
in them," or " by calling immediately a convention of all 
the states, with full authority to conclude finally upon a 
general confederation," (1780.) Just before the adoption 



2.56 PART III. 17f;:M7!)7. 

of tlie Articles, the le^^islutiin.' of New York presented a 
foniial iiicinorial to Cuii;^n-ess, saying, '^ We shall not pre- 
sume to gi\ e our opinion on the (piestion whether Congi-ess 
lias adecpiate powers or not. Hut we will without hesita- 
tion deeliire that, if they have not, they ought to have thein, 
and that we stand ready on our ])art to confer them." If 
all these things could he said. before the ratilication of the 
Confederation, they could ol" course be repeated with even 
greater truth alterwards. A specimen of the inelficiency 
of the government occurs in relation to a proi)osal of import 
duties to be laid by Congress. Ehode l^land relused to 
grant the necessary power to the government, and Vii-ginia, 
alter granting it, retracted it, (December, 1782.) 
^ - In the mean time events were hastening to a crisis 

of tho in the field. General Greene, taking command of 
inas. ^j^^ southern array, with several American officers 
and the Pole Kosciuszko in his train, determined to save 
the Carolinas. He was conlirmed in his j)ur])ose by his 
brigadier, General Morgan, who, distinguished in various 
actions, won a decisive victory over Tarleton at the Cow- 
pens, in South Carolina, (January 17.) Two months lat«'r, 
Greene and Morgan having retreated in the interval, the 
main bodies of the armies, British and American, met at 
Guilford, in North Carolina, (March 15.) Both retired 
from the field ; the Americans first, but the British with the 
greater loss. Cornwallis withdrew towards Wilmington, 
])ursued by Greene, who presently dashed into South Caro- 
lina. There he was opposed by Lord Rawdon, who at once 
defeated him in an engagement at Hobkirk's Hill, near 
Camden, (April 25.) This was a cruel blow to Greene's 
hojx's of sur})rising South Carolina. "This distressed 
c:uuntry," he wrote, " cannot struggle much longer without 
more effectual support." But it was not in Greene's nature 
to desi)air. While he advanced against the stronghold of 



WAR, CONTINUED. 257 

Ninety-Six, in South Carolina, he detached a body of troops 
under Lieutenant Colonel Lee to join a band of Carolinians 
and Georgians who were besieging Augusta. The result 
was the surrender of that town, (June 5.) But the fort at 
Ninety-Six held out against repeated assaults, and Greene 
was obliged to retire before the superior force which Raw- 
don was leading to raise the siege, (June 19.) For a time, 
the war subsided ; then Greene reappeared, and fought the 
action of Eutaw Springs. He lost the field of battle, (Sep- 
tember 8 ;) but the British, under Colonel Stuart, were so 
much weakened as to give way, and retreat precipitately 
towards Charleston. Thus from defeat to defeat, without 
the intermission of a single victory, in the common sense, 
Greene had now marched, now retreated, in such a brave 
and brilliant way, as to force the enemy back upon the sea- 
board. The successes of the militia and of the partisan 
corps had been equally effective. All the upper country, 
not only of the Carolinas, but of 'Georgia, was once more 
in the American possession. 
„, At the time when things were darkest at the 

The cen- ^5 

trai states south, greater perils arose at the centre of the 
' ^^^^' country. Virginia was invaded in the first days 
of 1781 by a formidable force, chiefly of loyalists under the 
traitor Arnold. He took Richmond, but only to leave it 
and retire to Portsmouth, where he bade defiance both to 
the American militia and the French vessels from Newport, 
(January.) Soon after, two thousand British troops were 
sent from New York, under General Phillips, with direc- 
tions to march up the Chesapeake against Maryland and 
Pennsylvania, (March.) This plan embraced the twofold 
idea of cutting off the Carolinas from all assistance, and 
of laying the central states equally prostrate. At about 
the same time, Cornwallis, baffled by Greene in North 
Carolina, set out to join the forces assembled in Virginia. 
22* 



258 PART III. 17G3-1797. 

They, moamvhiLs had penetrated tlie interior, swept the 
plantations and the towns, and taken Petersburg, (April.) 
The arrival of Cornwallis completed the array of the 
enemy, (May.) The very heart of the country was m 
danger. 

" Our aflairs," wrote "Washington before the con- 
centration of the enemy in Virginia, " are brought 
to an awful crisis." " Why need I run into details," he 
wrote again, " when it may be declared in a word, that we 
are at the end of our tether, and that now or never our 
deliverance must come ? " " But we must not despair," he 
urged, as dangers accumulated ; " the game is yet in our 
own hands ; to play it well is all we have to do, and I trust 
the experience of error will enable us to act better in 
future. A cloud may yet })ass over us, individuals may be 
ruined, and the country at large, or particular states, under- 
go temporary distress ; but certain I am that it is in our 
power to bring the Avar to a hap])y conclusion." 

The nation was far from beinjj up to the emer- 

A men can ^ '■ 

prcpara- gcucy. A Spirit of wcariuess and selfishness was 
prevailing among the people. The army, ill disci- 
j)lined and ill })aid, was exceedingly restless. Troops of 
the Pennsylvania and New Jersey lines had broken out 
into actual revolt at the beginning of the year. The gov- 
ernment was still ineffective, the Confederation feeble. Con- 
gress inert, not to say broken down. When one reads that 
this body stood ready to give up the Mississippi to Spain, 
nay, to waive the express acknowledgment of American 
independence as an indispensable preliminary to negotia- 
tions with Great Britain, — when one reads these things, he 
may well wonder that there were any preparations to meet 
the exigencies of the times. The German Baron de Steu- 
ben, collecting ti-oo])s in Virginia at the time of the inva- 
sion, was afto'wards joined l)y Lafayette, whose tro()})s had 



WAR, CONTINUED. 259 

been clad on their march at his expense. By sea, the 
French fleet was engaged in defending the coasts against 
the invader. It seemed as if the stranger were the only 
defender of Virginia and of America. But on the south- 
ern border was Greene, with his troops and his partisan 
allies. At the north was Washington, planning, acting, 
summoning troops from the states, and the French from 
Newport, to aid him in an attack upon New York, as the 
stronghold of the foe, until, convinced of the impossibility 
of securing the force required for such an enterprise, he 
resolved upon taking the command in Virginia, (August 
14.) Thither he at once directed the greater part of his 
scanty troops, as well as of the French. The allied army 
was to be strengthened by the French fleet, and not merely 
by that of Newport, but by another and a larger fleet from 
the West Indies. 
^ ^ ^ The British under Cornwallis were now within 

Defeat 

of Corn- fortified lines at Yorktown and Gloucester, (August 
1_22.) There they had retired under orders from 
the commander-in-chief at New York, who thought both 
that post and the Virginian conquests in danger from the 
increasing activity of the Americans, and especially the 
French. Little had been done in the field by Cornwallis. 
He had been most gallantly watched, and even pursued 
by Lafayette, whose praises for skill, as well as heroism, 
ranff far and wide. Washino-ton and the French General 
Rochambeau joined Lafayette at Williamsburg, (Septem- 
ber 14.) A great fleet under Count de Grasse was already 
in the Chesapeake. As soon as the land forces arrived, 
the siege of Yorktown was begun, (September 28.) The 
result was certain. Washington had contrived to leave vSir 
Henry Clinton impressed with the idea that New York was 
still the main object. Sir Henry, therefore, thought of no 
reenforcements for Cornwallis, until they were too late. 



« 



•iOO PAliT III. 170:M797. 

until, Indt'cd, tlicy wcrr out ol" tlic (incstion in consoqiicnee 
of tin' iia\:il .-iipninril y ot" tin* French. In t';itt, an cxju*- 
(litioii to lay \va-t<' tin* fastcni part of Coiuiccticut was 
(H'ciipyini^ Clinton's mind. Iln placed the loyalists and the 
Hessians desj)atclied for tin- purpo.sc* uncU'i' the traitor Ar- 
nold, who succeeded in destroying New London, (Septem- 
ber.) Thus there were but seven thousand five hini<lred 
British at Yorktown to resist nine tliousand Americans and 
seven thousand French, besides the numerous fleet. In 
less than three weeks, CornwaHis asked lor terms, (October 
17,) and two days afterwards surrendered. 

The blow was decisive. The United States were 
transported. Government, army, people were for 
once united, for once elevated to the altitude of those nobh? 
spirits, who, like Washington, liad sustained the nation 
until the moment of victory. "The play is over," wrote 
Lafayette, " and the liflli act is just flnished." " O God ! " 
exclaimed the English ])rime minister, on hearing of the 
event. " It is all over — all over ! " 

It was AVashington's earnest desire to avail of 

Prospects. ^ '^ 

the French fleet in an attack on Charleston. l)e 
Grasse refused. Then Washington urged him to transj»oit 
troops to Wilmington. But De Grass*' alleged his engage- 
ments in the AVest Indies, and sailed thither. The French 
under Rochambeau -went into winter quarters at Williams- 
burg, while the Americans marched, a part to reenforce the 
southern army, and a part to the various posts in the noitli. 
Prospects were uncertain. It was evident that the war 
was approaching its close, but none could tell how nearly. 
A\'a>liington iniploi-ed his countrymen to be on the alert. 
Again and again he rebuked the inaction into which they 
wen; falling, as if tln'ir work was done. The British >till 
held their post by the Penobscot. They were still .-tio.-ig 
at 2Sew "^'ork. A\'iIniington was evacuated bv them ; but 



WAR, CONTINUED. 261 

Charleston, the chief town of the south, and Savannah, 
remained in their hands. Lafayette wrote from France, 
whither he went at the close of the year, that " the evacu- 
ation of New York and Charleston are as far from British 
intentions as the evacuation of London." 
Evacua- ^^ tumcd out differently. A vote of Parliament 
tion of that the king be requested to bring the war to a 
'close, (February 27, 1782,) led to a change of 
ministry. Determining to recognize the independence of 
the United States, and to concentrate hostilities against the 
European powers, the new ministry sent out Sir Guy 
Carleton as commander-in-chief, wdth instructions to evacu- 
ate New York, Charleston, and Savannah ; in a word, the 
entire seaboard. Savannah was evacuated in the summer, 
(July 11,) Charleston in the early winter, (December 14.) 
It was the result of past campaigns, not of any present one. 
The Americans were without armies, without supplies, at 
least without such as were indisj^ensable for any active 
operations. When the French under Rochambeau reached 
the American camp on the Hudson in the autumn, they 
passed between two lines of troops clothed and armed by 
subsidies from France. It was a touching tribute of grati- 
tude, and an equally touching confession of weakness. All 
but a single corps of the French embarked at the close of 
the year. The remainder followed in the ensuing spring. 

Peace was then decided upon. It had been 
roiKan brought about by other operations besides those 
combat- ^hich have been described. The contest in Amer- 

auts. 

ica, indeed, was but an episode in the extended 
warfare of the period. Upon the sea, the fleets of Britain 
hardly encountered an American man-of-war. The oppos- 
ing squadrons were those of France and Spain and Hol- 
land. By land, the French opposed the British in the 
East Indies, upon the coast of Africa, and in the West 



2G2 PART III. 1703-1707. 

Indies. Tliey also aided the S])aniards to conquer Minor- 
ca, in the Mediterranean, and to assail, but in vain, the 
great stronghold of Gibraltar. The Spanish forces were 
also active in the Floridas. Plolland, alone of the Euro- 
pean combatants, made no stand against Great Britain. In 
the Indies, both East and West, and in South American 
Guiana, the Dutch were immense losers. What was gained 
from them, however, did not compensate for what was lost 
to others by the liritisli. The preliminaries of peace, at 
first with America, (November 30,) and afterwards with 
the European powers, (January 20, 1783,) were signed to 
the general contentment of Great Britain, of Eurojie, and 
of America. 

Cessation Hostilities soon ceased. In America, Sir Guy 
of hostiii- Carleton proclaimed their cessation on the part of 

the British, (April 8.) Washington, with the con- 
sent of Congress, made proclamation to the same effect. 
By a singular coincidence, the day on which hostilities were 
stayed was the anniversary of that on which they were 
begun at Lexington, eight years before, (April 19.) 
Release Mcasurcs, already proposed by the British com- 
of pris- mander, were at once taken on both sides for the 

release of prisoners. The treatment and the ex- 
change of these unfortunate men had given rise to great 
dilficulties during the, war. Even where actual cruelty did 
not exist, etiquette and policy were too strong for humanity. 
The horrors of the British jails and prison ships were 
bywords, and when their unhappy victims were offered in 
exchange for the better treated prisoners of the other side, 
the Americans hesitated to receive them. The troops that 
surrendered at Saratoga, on condition of a free passage to 
Great Britain, were detained, in consequence of various 
objections, to be freed only by desertions and slow ex- 
changes after the lapse of years. In short, the prisoners 



WAR, CONTINUED. 263 

of both ai-mies seem to have been regarded in the light of 
troublesome burdens, alike by those who had captured 
them and those from whom they were captured. Individ- 
ual benevolence alone lights up the gloomy scene. At 
the close of the war, we find Congress, on the recommen- 
dation of Washington, voting its thanks to Reuben Harvey, 
a merchant of Cork, for his humane succors to the Amer- 
ican prisoners in Ireland. 

Treaties Negotiations for peace met with many interrup- 
of peace, tious. So far as the United States were concerned, 
the questions of boundary, of the St. Lawrence and New- 
foundland fisheries, of indemnity to British creditors, as 
well as to American loyalists, were all knotty points ; the 
more so, that the four negotiators — Franklin, John Jay, 
John Adams, and Henry Laurens — were by no means 
agreed upon the principles by which to decide them. 
Some of the envoys, moreover, were possessed of the 
idea that France was disposed to betray her American 
allies ; and so strong was this feeling that the consent of 
the French government, the point which had been agreed 
upon as the essential condition of making peace, was not 
even asked before the signature of the preliminaries al- 
ready mentioned. It was before the preliminaries were 
signed that all these embarrassments appeared ; and they 
co^itinued afterwards. At length, however, definitive treaties 
were signed at Paris and at Versailles between Great 
Britain and her foes, (September 3.) * America obtained 
her independence, with all the accompanying privileges 
and possessions which she desired. She agreed, however, 
against her will, to make her debts good, and to recommend 
the loyalists, whose property had been confiscated, to the 
favor of the state governments. Spain recovered the Flor- 

* The treaty mth Holland was not concluded until the following spring. 



till- north. 



2CA TAUT 111. 1703-171)7. 

i«ljis. Tlic otlicr terms of tlio treaties — the eessions on one 
side and on the other — do not belong to our history. Tlie 
treaty between Great Britain and the United States was 
Ibnnally confirmed by Congress at the beginning of the 
ibUowing year, (January 14, 1784.) 

After Ions; dehiys, the Britisli witlidrew from 
their j)ost on tlie Penobscot. jN^ew York was evac- 
uated, (November 25, 1783,) and ten days later, 
the remaining forces embarked from Staten Island and 
Long Island, (December 4-G.) A few western posts 
excepted, the territory of the United States was free. 

The disposal of the American anny had long 

Troubles , . . . i ,• i 

in the bccu a serious question. A year before, the army 
American jj.^j addi-esscd Cougrcss on the subject of the pay, 
then months, and even years, in arrears, (Decem- 
ber, 1782.) Congress was powerless. The army was 
incensed. AVhen, therefore, anonymous addresses to the 
oiricers were issued from the camp at Newburg, proposing 
the alternative of redress or of desertion,* the worst con- 
sequences appeared inevitable. The more so, that the 
excitement was greatest amongst the better class of sol- 
diers, the " -worthy and fiiitliful men," as their commander 
described them, " wlio, from their early engaging in the 
•war at moderate bounties, and from their patient continu- 
ance under innumerable distresses, have not only deserved 
well of their country, but have obtained an honorable dis- 
tinction over those who, with shorter times, have gained 
large pecuniary rewards." Washington, and Washington 
alone, was equal to the crisis. He had repelled with unut- 
terable disdain tlie offer of a crown from certain individuals 
in the army a year before, (May, 1782.) He now rebuked 
the si)irit of the Newburg addresses, and by his majestic 

* "If peace [comes], that nothing shall separate you from your arms 
but death ; if war, tliat . . you will retire to some unsettled country." 



WAR, COr^TINUED. 265 

iiitegrity, quelled the rising passions of those around him. 
But he entered with all the greater fervor into the just 
claims of the army. His refusal at the outset of the war, 
renewed at the close * to receive any compensation for his 
services to the country, placed him in precisely the position 
from which he could now appeal in behalf of his olficers 
and soldiers to Congress and the nation. His voice was 
heard. The army obtained a promise of its pay, including 
the commutation to a fixed sum of the half pay for life 
formerly promised to the officers at the expiration of the 
war, (March, 1783.) All was not yet secure. But three 
months later, and a body of Pennsylvanian troops marched 
upon Congress itself in Philadelphia. Washington de- 
nounced the act with scorn. " These Pennsylvania 
levies," he says, "who have now mutinied, are recruits 
and soldiers of a day, who have not borne the heat and 
burden of the war." He at once sent a force to reduce 
and to chastise them, (June.) 

Disband- " It is high tunc for a peace," Washington had 
ing- written some months previously. The army was 
slowly disbanded, a small number only being left when the 
formal proclamation of dissolution was made, (November 
3.) A few troops were still retained in arms. Of these, 
and of his faithful officers, the commander-in-chief took his 
leave at New York, (December 4.) Thence he repaired 
to Annapolis, where Congress was in session, and there 
resigned the commission which he had held, unstained and 
glorious, for eight years and a half, (December 23.) 

It seems as if he left no one behind him. The 
ment of toAvn and the state, each had its authorities ; but 
the na- ^jjg nation was without a erovernment, at least with 

tion. " 

nothing more than the name of one. Yet the 

* Just after resigning his commission, he declined the overtures of 
Pennsylvania to propose a national remuneration for his sacrifices. 

23 



2GG PART III. 17G;3-17'J7. 

need of ti direetin^ and a sustaining power liad never been 
"•iratcr or elcarcr. If the war itself was over, its conse- 
quenees, its burdens, its debts, its wasting intiuences, were 
but begun. 

No one saw this more plainly, no one felt it more 

Washing- i • i • . » 

ton's deej)ly, than the retinng coniniander-ni-chiet. At 
counsels. ^^^^ ^.^^^^ j^^^^i j^^ y^^^^^ absorbed in his military duties. 

Tn his relations to Congress, to the states, even to the citi- 
zens, as well as in those to foreigners, whethei* allies or 
enemies, he had been almost as mueh the civil as the mili- 
tary head of the country. The arm that had led the nation 
through the field was now lifted to point out the paths that 
opened beyond. " According to the system of policy the 
states shall adopt at this moment," — thus Washington wrote 
to the governors of the states, on disbanding the aimy, — 
" they will stand or fall ; and by their confirmation or lapse, 
it is yet to be decided whether the revolution must ultimate- 
ly be considered as a blessing or a curse ; a blessing or a 
curse, not to the present age alone, for wi-th our fate will 
the destiny of unborn millions be involved." " There are 
four things," he continued, " which I humbly conceive are 
essential to the well being, I may even venture to say, to 
the existence, of the United States as an independent power. 

" First. An hidissoluble union of the states midcr one 
federal head. 

" Second. A sacred' regard to public justice. 

"Third. The adoption of a proper peace establishment. 
And 

" Fourth. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly 
disposition among the people of the United States which 
will induce them to forget their local })rejudices and poli- 
cies ; to make those mutual concessions which are re(iuisite 
to the general prosperity ; and in some instances, to sacri- 
fiec^ their individual advantages to the interest of the 
community." 



And 



WAR, CONTINUED. 267 

" I now make it my earnest prayer," concluded 
prayers, tlie Cliristian hero, " that God would have you, and 
the state over which you preside, in His holy protection ; 
that He would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate 
a spirif of subordination and obedience to government, to 
entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for 
their fellow-citizens of the United States at large, and par- 
ticularly for their brethren who have served them in the 
field ; and finally, that He would most graciously be pleased 
to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean 
ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of 
mind, which v/ere the characteristics of the divine Author 
of our blessed rehgion, and without a humble imitation of 
whose example in these things we can never hope to be a 
happy nation." 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Constitution. 

roreic^n ^^^ lovGS to dwcU upon the sympathy from 
sympa- abroad for the mfant nation. What had been 
^^' repressed while the states were still claimed as the 
colonies of Great Britain broke forth after the claim was 
set aside. From all parts of Europe, from all parts of 
Great Britain itself, there came congratulations and ap- 
plauses. Even sovereigns did homage to the republic. 
The King of France continued its friend. The King of 
Spain, recognizing its national existence, sent gifts and 
compliments to its great leader, Washington. 
^^^^ No proof of regard was dearer to Washington or 

ette's to the nation than one which came from the friend 
and the champion of many years, the devoted 
Lafayette. He had spent two years and a half in gener- 
ous exertions at home, when he crossed the seas to join in 
the American rejoicings at the definite establishment of 
independence. The whole people welcomed him. Divided 
on many points, they were united in the grateful affection 
which he had inspired. Soldiers and citizens, the wild 
borderers and the plodding townspeople, the inhabitants of 
every section, thronged together with a common desire of 
doing honor to Lafayette. He was feasted in all the prin- 
cipal places. Congress gave him a public reception. Wash- 
ington crowned him with love and parental gratitude at 
Mount Vernon. After a six months' tour, he left America 

(268) 



THE CONSTITUTION. 269 

to share in the struggles of his native country, (August, 
1784 — Januaiy, 1785.) 

Wants of He left the country of his adoption in the midst 
America, ^f struggles of its own. It was contending against 
manifold wants, some common to any youthful nation, others 
pecuhar to itself, to a nation so unique in its history, and 
especially m the history of the last twenty years. It 
is to these wants, and to the manner in which they were 
supplied, that we are to turn. 

Organ- Cliicf of tliem all, the one, indeed, in which they 

ization. ^y\\\ l,^^ found to liavc been comprehended, like 
segments in a circle, was organization. The sharp points, 
the intersecting lines, the clashing forms of different dis- 
tricts and of different institutions, needed to be reduced to 
order within the curve, at once enfolding and harmonizing, 
of a national system. There was hardly a political princi- 
ple upon which the entire country agreed. There was not 
one political power by which it was governed. Interests 
were opposed to interests, classes to classes ; nay, men to 
men. When the officers of the army, for instance, formed 
into a society, under the name of the Cincinnati, for the 
purpose of keeping up their relations with one another, and 
more particularly of succoring those who might fall into 
distress, a general uproar was raised, because the member- 
ship of the society was to be hereditary, from father to son, 
or from kinsman to kinsman. It was found necessary to 
strike out this provision, at the first general meeting of the 
Cincinnati, (1784.) Even then, though there remained 
nothing but a charitable association, it was inveighed 
against as a caste, as an aristocracy ; as any thing, in short, 
save what it really was. It is easy to say that all this is a 
sign of republicanism, of a devoted anxiety to preserve the 
institutions for which loss and sufferings had been endured. 
But it is a clearer sign of the suspicions and the collisions 
23* 



270 PART ITI. 17r.,V1707. 

\vliicli wovo rciidiii!^ the iiiition asiiiidcr. "^IMicro was })ut a 
6in«i:l«' remedy. The people Wi'Vii to be united ; tlie eoinitrv 
^v:l.s to be niaih; one. 

Tlie states were absorbe(l in theii- own troubles. 
pt„,,.s. The debts of the Conl'ederatiou hiy heavy upon 
luteruui ti„.,|i^ i,i addition to tliose eontiacted bv themst'lvcs. 
troublus. , • 1 1 1 "^ 

Their citizens were lnlpoven-^he(l, liere and there 

maddened hy the eahunities and the ])iudens, })rivale and 
j)ubli(% which they were obliged to bt.'ar togetlu'r. At 
Exeter, the a-senibly of New Hampshire was assailed by 
two hundred men with weapons, demanding an emission of 
paper money. All day, the insurgents held possession of 
the legislative chamber ; but in the early evening, they 
were dispersed by a rumor that Exeter was taking up 
arms against them, (178G.) The same year, the eouits of 
Massachusetts were })revented from holding their usual 
sessions by bodies of armed men, whose main object it was 
to prevent any collection of debts or taxes. So general 
"was the sympathy with the movement, not only in Massa- 
chusetts, but in the adjoining states, that twelve or fifteen 
thousand were supjiosc'd to be ready to do the same. 
Nearly two thousand were in arms at the beginning of 
the following year, (1787.) The horror excited in the 
rest of the country was intense. Congress ordered troops 
to be raised, but as it had no power to interfere with the 
states, the pretext of Indian hostilities was set up. Massa- 
chusetts was fortunate in having James Bowdoin for a 
governor. Under his influence chiefly, — for the legislature 
"was partly i)aralyzed and partly infected, — the danger 
was met. One or two thousand militia, under the command 
of General I^incoln, marched against the insurgents, at the 
head of whom was I)ani(d Shays, a caj)tain in the continen'. 
tal army. Already driven back from Springfield, where 
thev had attacked the arsenal, the insurgents retreated to 



THE CONSTITUTION. 271 

Petersliam, and were there put to rout. Of all the prison- 
ers, fourteen alone were tried and condemned, not one being 
executed. The insurrection had lasted about six months, 
(August, 1786 — February, 1787.) 

Dismem- ^or Were such insurrections the only ones of the 
berments. time. A body of settlers in Wyoming, principally 
emigrants from New England, held their land by grants 
from Connecticut, long the claimant of the territory. When 
Connecticut gave way to Pennsylvania, and the latter state 
insisted upon the necessity of new titles to the settlements 
of Wyoming, the settlers armed themselves, and threatened 
to set up a state of their own, (1782-87.) What was 
threatened there M^as actually executed elsewhere. The 
western counties of North Carolina, excited by being ceded 
to the United States, organized an indej^endent government, 
as the state of Franklin or Frankland, (1784.) But the 
people were divided, and the governor. Colonel Sevier, of 
King's Mountain fame, was ultimately compelled to fly by the 
opponents of an independent organization, (1788.) Mean- 
while old projects of independence had been revived in the 
Kentucky counties of Virginia. Petitions and resolutions 
led to acts of the Virginia legislature consenting to the 
independence of Kentucky on certain conditions, (1785- 
8G.) Kentucky soon after petitioned Congress for admis- 
sion to the Union, but without immediate eifect, (1787-88.) 
All these instances of dismemberment, proposed or accom- 
plished, relate to frontier settlements, where independence 
was suggested as much by the position as by the character 
of the settlers. But the older districts were stirred in the 
same way. Maine again and again strove to be detached 
from Massachusetts, (1786.) 

Case of 1'^^® ^^^^ of Vermont was one apart. It came 
Vermont, ^p ^^^y the beginning of the war, when the inhab- 
itants of that district, then known as the New Hampshire 



272 TART III. 17G3-1797. 

grants, declared it tlio State of Vermont, (January, 1777,) 
and asked admission to the rnion, (duly.) The request 
was denied, <»n account of tlie claim> of J^aw York to the 
territory. A nuniher of towns in the valley of the dm- 
nectient, and partly within the limits of New Hampshire, 
afterwarils formed tlieniselves into the State of. New Con- 
necticut, (177y.) This soon fell through, leaving its prede- 
cessor, Vermont, to be enlarged by the New Hampshire 
towns on the eastern banks of the Connecticut, together 
with the New York setth'uients as far as th<5 Hudson, 
(1781.) Overtures were then made to the Britisli autlior- 
ities in Canada, with whom the Vermonters might well 
wish to bc^ on good terms, so long as they were excluded 
from the Union. Congress took alarm, as Vermont expect- 
ed, and pro])osed to grant admission, provided the lecent 
annexations from New Ham])shire and New York were 
surrendered. This was done ; but Congress still kept Ver- 
mont at a distance, (1782.) A member of the body, James 
Madision, explains the reasons why a jiromise, so long de- 
layed, was finally violated. The Eastern States, except New 
Hampshire, and the Central States, except New York, 
advocated the entrance of Vermont, while New Y'ork and 
the Southern States opposed it, as Mr. Madison relates, 
through " first, an habitual jealousy of a predominance of 
eastern interests ; secondly, the opposition expected from 
Vermont to western claims ; thirdly, the inexpediency of 
admitting so unimportant a state to an equal vote in decid- 
ing a peace, and all the other grand interests of the Union 
now depending ; fourthly, the influence of the example on 
a premature, dismemberment of the other states." So Ver- 
mont remained aloof, contented, one may believe, to be free 
from the troubles of the United States. 

The strife exhibited in tlie case of Vermont was nothing 
new or temporary. Disputes between state and state arose, 



THE CONSTITUTION. 273 

as we have had occasion to observe, in the midst 
between^ of war, and peace had not put them to rest. When 
state and ^ly Madison spcaks of sectional interests, he alludes 

state. . T p • 

to the varieties of occupation and oi mvestment 
which distinguished one state from another. Such things 
could not but lead to different systems in different parts of 
the country, the more so, especially in the north and m the 
south, that there were differences of character, and even of 
principle, to enliance the differences of pursuits or of pos- 
sessions. The allusion to the western territory is to a 
subject already noticed in our pages. Partially settled at 
the time when the Confederation was completed, the ques- 
tion of the unoccupied lands was still undecided. It united 
the smaller states, as a general rule, against the larger ones, 
by whom the western regions were claimed. Besides these 
great divisions between north and south, and between the 
larger and the smaller states, there were others of more 
limited nature. Boundary*questions came up, some to be 
determined, and others to be left undetermined, but none to 
subside immediately. Variances as to the share of the 
rational debt, and more particularly as to the method of 
meeting it, endured from year to year. In short, the thir- 
teen states, instead of being intertwined, were set against 
one another on almost every point of importance that arose 
amongst them. 
^ , The wneral sjovernment continued in the same fee- 

General ~ "^ 

govern- blc statc that has been repeatedly observed. If there 
^^^ ' was any change, it was that the Confederation and 
its Congress had sunk to a still lower degree of inefficiency. 
There was even less attention to its wants on the part of the 
states ; its requisitions went almost unanswered, tlieir obliga- 
tions almost unregarded. The superintendent of finance, 
Robert Morris, of Philade][)hia, by whose personal exertions 
and advances the country had been forced through the last 



274 PAUT in. i7r.;M797. 

yt'jirs of the war, laid ilowii his oiVwc in despair, after a 
year of peace. His ereatioii ol' a hank — tlie Bank of 
Korth America (ITSl) — was reconinieiuleil hy Coiijj^ress 
to. th(? states, wiili tlie request that l)ranclies should be 
established; but in vain. Congress renewed iis ])etition, as 
it may be styled, for j)ower to lay a duty on inn)()rts, if 
only for a limited j)eriod, (ITS,').) After long delay, a 
fresh apjM'al was made with really jjiteous rei)resentations 
of the national insolvency. ^«'ew York refused to comj)ly 
u}u)n the terms proj)osed, and Congress was again humili- 
ated, ( ITsi'..) Din-iiig its eilorls on lliis point. Congress 
had roused itself upon another, and asked for authority 
over foreign conmierce. Such was the urgency of the 
interests at stake, that Congress went so far as to appoint a 
commission for the purj)ose of negotiating commercial trea- 
ties with the European powers, (1784.)* But the supjdi- 
cations of Congress to the states were once more denied, 
(178-f-8G.) 

Oil one point alone was Congress worthy to be 
zation Called a government. It organized the western 
vanZ territory, after having prevailed upon the states, 
west ter- or uiost of tlieui, to, abandon their pretensions to 
^' '^" regions so remote from themselves. Virginia hav- 
ing followed the earlier example of New York, a plan was 
brought forward by one of her delegates, Thomas Jetferson, 
for the division and constitution of the western territory. 
The plan, at first, embraced the organization of the entire 
western territory, out of which seventeen states, all free, 
were to be formed. The j)roposed prohibition of slavery 
was at once voted down ; otherwise the i)roject was adopted, 

* A treaty was made with only one of thcui, (riu.ssia,) but it contained 
substance enoupjb for a score of old treaties, in prohibitinj^ privateerinj?, 
and sustaininjj; the liberty of neutral eomniercc in case of war, (17^0-) 
Sec the next chapter. 



THE CONSTITUTION. 275 

(April, 1784.) But the cessions of the states not yet cover- 
ing the whole • of the region thus apportioned^ its organiza- 
tion was postponed until the national title to the lands could 
be made complete. Massachusetts (1785) and Connecticut 
(1786) ceded their claims, the latter state, however, with a 
reservation. Treaties with various tribes disposed in part 
of the Indian titles to the western territories, (1784-86.) * 
All these cessions completing the hold of the nation upon 
the tract north-west' of the Ohio,t that country was definite- 
ly organized as the North-west Territory, by an ordinance 
of Congress, (July 13, 1787 ) This intrusted the govern- 
ment of the territory partly to officers appointed by Con- 
gress, and partly to an assembly to be chosen by the settlers 
as soon as they amounted to five thousand ; the inhabitants 
and the authorities being alike bound to the observance of 
certain articles of compact between the old states and the 
new ones that might arise within the territory. These 
articles provided for religious Hberty; for habeas corpus, 
trial by jury, and kindred privileges ; for the encourage- 
ment of religion and education, and for justice towards the 
Indians; for the equal rights and responsibilities of the 
new states and the old ; for the division of the territory 
into states ; and lastly, for the prohibition of slavery. 
Under so liberal an organization, surveys, sales, and settle- 
ments followed fast. A colony from Massachusetts was the 
first to occupy Ohio, at Marietta, (1788.) 
Difficui- Singular enough, while Congress was taking these 
ties with steps to preserve the western domains, it was taking 

Spain. .1 i. 1 , -r-> 

Others to endanger them. Eager to secure a treaty 

* It was many years before the Indian title was completely extin- 
guished 

t The south-west territory, though ceded in great part by the Indians, 
was not yet ceded by the states on whose borders it lay. South Carolina 
was the first to give up her claims, (August, 1787.) 



276 I'AllT 111. 17G3-1797. 

of commerce witli Spain, the Northern and Central States 
assented to surrender tlie navigation of tlie Mississippi to 
that power, (17S(j.) In tliis they had no less an authority 
upon their side than Washington, who appeal's to have 
attached more importance to internal communication be- 
tween the west and the east alone than to that wider inter- 
course whieli tlie west would possess by means of its mighty 
river, detterson, then the American minister at Paris, was 
farther siglited. " The act," he wrote, " which abandons 
the navigation of the Mississippi, is an act of separation 
between the eastern and western country," (1787.) Sup- 
pose the right to the Mississippi waived, even for a limited 
period, and the probability is, that a large number of the 
western settlers, conceiving themselves sacrificed, would 
have separated from their countrymen, and gained a passage 
through the stream either in war or in alliance with Spain. 
Relations with Great Britain were still more dis- 

And 

Groat turbed than those with Spain. Nor were they less 
Britain, threatening to the west. The treaty of peace exact- 
ed the surrender of the western posts by Britain. But 
America was required at the same time to provide for the 
debts of great magnitude due to British merchants. This, 
however, was not done. Congress was unable, and the 
states were unwilling, to effect any thing ; five states, 
indeed, continuing or commencing measures to prevent the 
collection of British debts. When, therefore, John Adams, 
the first minister to Great Britain, entered into a negotia- 
tion for the recovery of the posts which the British still 
held, he was met at once by the demand that the American 
part in the treaty should be fulfilled, (1786.) The subject 
of debts was not the only one on wdiich the states were 
violating the treaty. But it was the chief infraction ; and 
against it chiefly was directed a remonstrance which Con- 
gress addressed to the states, altogether in vain, (1787.) 



THE CONSTITUTION. 277 

Dark " ^^^ Consideration felt for America by Europe," 

times. wrote Lafayette, " is diminishing to a degree truly 
painful ; and what has been gained by the revolution i^ in 
danger of being lost little by little, at least during an inter- 
val of trial to all the friends of the nation." " I am morti- 
fied beyond expression," wrote Washington, " when I view 
tlie clouds that have spread over the brightest morn tliat 
ever dawned upon any country." 

oidfoun- Amid this tottering of the national system, the 
diitious. Qif\ foundations stood secure. The laws that had 
been laid deep in the past, the institutions, political and 
social, that had been reared above them, remained to sup- 
port the present uncertainties. Every strong principle of 
the mother country, every broad reform of the colonies, 
contributed to the strength and the development of the 
struggling nation. 

Nor were recent superstructures wanting. The 
I'^^ll^ states, in forming and reforming their constitutions, 
struc- set up many a great principle, undeveloped, if not 
^"'''''" unknown, in earlier times. Nothing, for instance, 
could be more novel, as well as more admirable, than the 
indemnity * voted by Pennsylvania to the proprietary family 
of which she had cast oiF the dominion. It was a recog- 
nition of rights belonging to rulers, that had never been 
made by subjects in a successful revolution. The law of 
inheritance was another point of new proportions. The 
claim of the eldest son to a double share of his father's 
property, if not to all the prerogatives of primogeniture, 
w^as gradually prohibited, Georgia taking the lead. Suf- 
frage was extended in several states,t from holders of real 

* £130,000 sterling, in addition to all the private domains of the 
family. Maryland made no such indemnity ; but the representative of 
her proprietor was an illegitimate son 

t New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina, and, par- 
tially, North Carolina, ^. 



278 PART III. 1763-1797. 

or personal property to all tax-paying freemen. Personal 
lil)erty obtained extension and proteetion. The elass of 
indebted servants diminished. That of slaves disappeared 
altogether in some of the states. Massachusetts, dechiring 
men free and equal by her Bill of Rights, was pronounced 
by her Supreme Court to have put an end to shiveiy witliin 
her limits, (1780-83.) Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, 
Rhode Island, and Connecticut forbade the importation of 
slaves, and the bondage of any persons tliereafter born 
upon their soil. Other states declared against the transpor- 
tation of slaves from state to state, others against tlie 
foreign slave trade ; all, in fine, moving witli greater or 
less energy in the same direction, save only South Carolina 
and Georgia. Societies were formed in many places to 
quicken the action of the authorities. In making exertions, 
and in maintaining principles like these, the nation was 
proving its title to independence. 

Reii-ioiis Nothing, however, was more full of promise than 
privileges, ^^e rcligious privileges to which the states consented. 
Rhode Island, who, as formerly mentioned, had no dispo- 
sition to change her existing institutions, made one altera- 
tion by striking out the prohibitory statute against Roman 
Catholics, (1784.) But Rhode Island was no longer alone 
in her glory. The majority of the state constitutions 
allowed entire religious liberty. The only real restrictions 
upon it were those to which the Puritan states still clung 
in enforcing the payment of taxes, and the attendance upon 
services in some church or other; the old leaven not having 
entirely lost its power. Particular forms of faith were here 
and there required, if not from the citizens, at any rate 
from the magistrates ; Roman Catholics being excluded 
from oilice in several states of the north, the centre, and 
the south. 

As there was no sin":le fold into which the Christians of 



THE CONSTITUTION. 279 

the United States would enter, it was of the highest 
asticai importance that their separate folds should be 
organiza- marked out and governed upon definite principles. 

Nothing else was likely to prevent colhsion among 
the more zealous, or straying away among the more luke- 
warm. The American branch of the church of England, 
deserted by the loyalists, and suspected, if not assailed, by 
the patriots, had but just survived the revolutionary strug- 
gle. It obtained its first bishop, Samuel Seabury, by ordi- 
nation in Scotland, (1784,) his first associates, White and 
Provoost, being consecrated in England, (1787.) A conven- 
tion of several states at New York declared their church the 
Protestant Episcopal church of the United States, (1784.) 
The Methodist Episcopal church, strongest in the centre and 
the south, obtamed its first bishop, Thomas Coke, (1784.) 
Two years afterwards, the first Roman Catholic bishop, John 
Carroll, was appointed to the see of Baltimore, (1786.) 
The Presbyterians then formed their synods for the Central 
and the Southern States, (1788.) In the north, the Presby- 
terians and the Congregationalists, uniting to a certain 
degi'ee, continued their ancient institutions. All over the 
country, ecclesiastical systems were reducing themselves to 
form and law. 

Su-ges- It was time for the nation to profit by the exam- 
tions of pigg and the principles that have been enumerated, 

a nation- .„. , . , „. ,, 

ai Constir — time for it to guard against the conflicts and the 
tution. pqyUq that have been described. Alexander Ham- 
ilton, as mentioned in a former chapter, conceived the idea 
of a Convention for forming a national Constitution as early 
as 1780. Other individuals advocated the same measure, 
in private or in public. The legislature of New York 
supported it in 1782. The legislature of Massachusetts 
supported it in 1785. 

In the spring of the same year, (1785,) a number of 



280 PART III. 1763-1797. 

commissioners from Maryland and Virginia assom- 

Conven- _ *^ ^ 

tions at bled at Alexandria, for the purpose of regulating 
dria^and *^^*^ navigation of the Chesapeake and the Potomac. 
Annapo- Thcv also met at Mount Vernon. James Madison 

lis 

was one of their number, and he suggested the 
appointment of commissioners with additional powers to 
act, with the assent of Congress, in organizing a tariff for 
the two states. This being recommended by the commis- 
sion at Alexandria, the Virginia legislature enlarged the 
plan, by appointing commissioners to meet others, not only 
from Maryland, but from all the states, and " to take into 
consideration the trade of the United States." Five states 
were represented in a Convention at Annapolis in the 
autumn of the following year, (1786.) They wore wise 
enough to see two things : one, that five states could not act 
for the whole ; and the other, that the subject of trade was 
but a di'op in the ocean of difficulties with which the nation 
was threatened. At the proposal of Alexander Hamilton, 
one of the commissioners, and the same who had urged the 
formation of a Constitution six years before, the Convention 
at Annapolis recommended a national convention at Phila- 
delphia in the ensuing month of May, " to take into consid- 
eration the situation of the United States, to devise such 
further provisions as shall appear necessary to render the 
Constitution of the federal government adequate to the 
exigencies of the Union, and to report such an act for that 
purpose to the United States m Congress assembled, as, 
when agreed to by them, and afterwards confirmed by the 
legislature of every state, will effectually provide for the 
same." 

Action of The first to act upon this proposal from Aimapo- 
viigiuia. ]jg ^y^g ^}^g state SO oftcu forcmost in the cause of 
the country. Thus spoke Virginia : " The General Assem- 
bly of this commonwealth, taking into view the actual 



THE CONSTITUTION. 281 

situation of the Confederacy, . . . can no longer doubt 
that the crisis is arrived at which the good people of Amer- 
ica are to decide the solemn question whether they will, by 
wise and magnanimous efforts, reap the just fruits of that 
independence which they have so gloriously acquired, and 
of that union which they have cemented with so much of 
their common blood, or whether, by giving way to unmanly 
jealousies and prejudices, or to partial and transitory inter- 
ests, they will renounce the auspicious blessings prepared 
for them by the revolution. . . . The same noble and 
extended policy, and the same fraternal and affectionate 
sentiments which originally determined the citizens of this 
commonwealth to unite with their brethren of the other 
states in establishing a federal government, cannot but be 
felt with equal force now, as motives to lay aside every 
inferior consideration, and to concur in such further conces- 
sions and provisions as may be necessary to secure the 
great objects for wliich that government was instituted, and 
to render the United States as happy in peace as they have 
been glorious in war." Thereupon the legislature appointed 
its deputies to join with those of the other states " in devis- 
ing and discussing all such alterations and provisions as 
may be necessary to render the Federal Constitution ade- 
quate to the exigencies of the Union." 

The noble example thus set was at once followed 
states " ^7 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and 
and of Delaware. By the time these states declared them- 
selves, (February, 1787,) Congress, after many 
doubts as to the propriety of the course, came out with a 
call of its own. Instead, however, of taking the broad 
ground on which Virginia set herself, Congress limited 
its summons to a convention " for the sole and express j)ur- 
pose of revising the Articles of Confederation." The other 
states, Rhode Island excepted, went on to appoint their del- 
24* 



282 PART III. 17G3-1797. 

egates. The credentials of some representations supported 
tlic liberal views ot" Virginia ; tho.se of others the narrower 
purpose of Congress. Only one state, Delaware, laid its 
ri'i)resentatives under a positive restriction, namely, to 
maintain the right of the state, the smallest but one in the 
Urtion, to an equal vote in any governiuent tluit might be 
framed. 

The same hall in which the Declaration of Inde- 
of tho'"^ pendence had been adopted, more than eleven years 
Convcn- before, and in which Congress had continued to sit 

tiuu. V . . . 

during the greater i)art of the intervening period, in 
the State House at Philadelphia, was chosen for the ses- 
sions of the Convention. The day fixed for the opening 
arrived. " Such members as were in town " — runs the 
diary of Washington, who had consented, against his incli- 
nation, to sit in the Convention — " assembled at the State 
House ; but only two states being represented, namely, Vir- 
ginia and Pennsylvania, agreed to meet to-morrow%" (May 
14, 1787.) It must have been with anxious thoughts that 
the few wlio met found themselves obliged to separate day 
after day, without being able to make so much as a begin- 
ning in the work before them. At length, eleven days 
after the appointed time, the representatives of seven states 
— a bare majority — assembled and opened the Conven- 
tion. As a matter of course, George Washington was 
elected president, (May 25.) 

The United States of America never wore a more 

majestic aspect than m the Convention, which grad- 
nnlTy* filled up with the delegates of every state except 
Ivhode Island. The purpose of the assembly was sufficient 
to invest it witli solemnity. To meet in the design of 
strengthening instead of enfeebling authority, of forming a 

* New Tlampshirc was not represented till July 23. 



THE CONSTITUTION. 283 

government which should enable the nation to fulfil, instead 
of eluding its obhgations alike to the citizen and the stran- 
ger, — to meet with these intentions was to do what the 
world had never witnessed. It is scarcely necessary to say 
that lower motives entered in ; that the interests of classes 
and of sections, the prejudices of naiTow politicians and of 
selfish men, obtruded themselves with ominous strength. 
Many of the members were altogether unequal io the na- 
tional duties of the Convention. But they were surrounded 
by others of a nobler mould — by the venerable Franklin, 
lately returned from his French mission, the representative 
of the later colonial days ; by various members of the 
Stamp Act Congress, of the Congress that declared inde- 
pendence, and of the subsequent Congresses before and 
during the Confederation ; by several representatives of 
the younger class of patriots, notably by Alexander Ham- 
ilton and James Madison, who had been conspicuous in the 
movements preliminary to the Convention ; and by many 
more whose names do not depend upon a volume like the 
present for reverential recollection. 

The rules of the Convention ordered secrecy of 

Plans of *' 

a consti- debate and the right of each state to an equal vote, 
tution. Qovernor Randolph, of Virginia, then opened the 
deliberations upon a constitution by ofi^ering a series of res- 
olutions proposing a national legislature of two. branches, a 
national executive, and a national judiciary of supreme and 
inferior tribunals. Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, 
offered a sketch of government, based on the same prin- 
ciples as Randolph's, but developed with greater detail. 
Both the plans were referred to a committee of the whole ; 
but Randolph's, or the Virginia plan, as it was rightly 
called, engrossed the debate. At the end of a fortnight the 
committee reported in favor of the Virginia system. 
Things had not gone so far without opposition, to the ele- 



284 TAUT III. 17r.3-1797. 

monts of wliifli wo will rcvcM-t immfdiatfl}'. On thr report 
of the comiiiittf*', a nrw j)laii \\a> olli red by William Pat- 
terson, of New .Icrx'N , t'lnluHlyiiij^ the views of the Con- 
necticut, New York, D.laware, and Maryland, as well its 
the New JcfM'y dcl(';^^ati()iis. Tiiis New Jersey jdan, so 
styled, proposed a trovcrnnient of nnicli nioni limited powers 
tlian that of the Viririnia ])attern. Tiie two were refcrn'd 
to a eonunittcc of the whole. Soon afier, Alexander Ham- 
ilton broached a plan of his own, going to the very oi)i)ositc 
extreme of the New Jersey system. He was for taking the 
British constitution as "tiie ln-st model the world has ever 
produced," antl lor creating a national govermiient, of which 
the executive and the higher branch of the legislature, as 
well as the judiciary, should all be elected to serve during 
good behavior or life. Hamilton presented his phni as an 
exposition of his personal convictions rather than as a sub- 
ject for debate, confessing that it was " very remote from 
the idea of the people." The question, therefore, lay be- 
tween the Virginia and the New Jersey plans. 
Question l^^it there was another question to be previously 
of powers. jg^ij(3j^ if not by formal vote, at least by the course 
of opinions. Doubt existed about the powers of the Con- 
vention. Some insisted that it could do no more than 
revise the Articles of the Confederation ; in other words, 
that it might reform, but not displace, the existing govern- 
jnent. These members were of course the su})})orters oi' the 
New Jersey plan. They called it by the name of federal, 
in ojiposition to the system, at the time style*! anti-federal, 
of their op])onents. The anti-federal — that is, the national 
men — maintained the necessity of a new government as 
sufficient to authorize the Convention to frame one, even if 
the power to do so had not been expressly given. Tliey 
nrged this the more, in that the Convention would not 
create the government, but simply I'cconnnend its creation 



THE CONSTITUTION. 285 

to the nation. Tlie difference between tlie two sides was, 
as we see, immense. As the one or as the other prevailed, 
so followed the fate not merely of the Virginia and the 
New Jersey plans, but of the Constitution and the nation. 
A national ^^ ^'^^^' therefore, a turning point in the move- 
system ments of the Convention, when the committee of the 
a op e . ^i^^jg reported once more in favor of the Virginia 
plan. The labors of construction and of detail were all to be 
gone through. But the one guiding and assuring principle 
of a national system was gained, (June 29.) 

Parties were by this time but too distinctly de- 
TurviT^' fi^^^* ^^^ federal side was taken, as a general 
states and rule, by the rej^i'esentatives of the small states, the 
states. national by those of the large. Whatever was up- 
held by the large states, especially Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania, and, above all, Virginia, was, as if for this 
simple reason, opposed by the small ones. There was a 
constant dread of the dominion wliicli, it was supposed, 
w^ould be exercised by the superior states to the disadvan- 
tage and the disgrace of those of inferior rank. Perhaps 
the tone assumed by the large states was such as reasonably 
to inspire suspicion. Certain it is, that the breach between 
the two parties grew wider and wider, particularly when 
the committee and the Convention pronounced " in favor of 
the national plan. Within ten days afterwards, Franklin, 
shocked by the altercations around him, moved that prayers 
should be said every morning. The motion was parried, 
partly, it was said, to prevent the public from surmising the 
divisions of the Convention. 

Views of "^^^^ starting point, so far as theory was con- 
state gov- cerned, of the two parties, was the government by 
states. In this, the federal members argued, re- 
sides the only principle of sovereignty, and to this recourse 
must be had for the life and breath of a government for the 



28G PART III. 1703-1707. 

nation. Ilencc the name of federal, implying the support 
of a league — that is, a league between the states — as the 
true form of a general government. All this the national 
party opposed. We are not met, they reasoned, to fashion 
a Constitution out of the states or for the states, but to 
create a Constitution for the people ; it is the people, not 
the states, who are to be governed and united ; it is the 
people, moreover, from whom the power required for the 
Constitution is to emanate. At the same time, the national 
members, with a few exceptions, were far from denying the 
excellence of state governments. These, they urged, are 
precisely what we want to manage the local alfliirs of the 
different portions of the country ; in this capacity, the states 
will be truly the pillars of the Union. 

Votes of These views had entered largely into the debates 
states. already decided by the adoption of a national j)lan 
for the Constitution. They were again brought forward, 
and with renewed earnestness, in relation to a question now 
coming up for decision. Before the Confederation, and 
after it, the votes of the states in Congress had been equal, 
each state having a single vote, and no more. This was 
the rule, as has been mentioned, of the Convention. But 
when the point was reached in the constitutional debates, 
the national [)arty insisted upon an entirely different sys- 
tem. The votes to be taken in the legislative branches of 
the new government are not, it was asserted, the votes of 
the states, but the votes of the people ; let them, therefore, 
be given according to the numbers of the people, not of the 
states. Not so, replied the federal members, — and they 
had reason to be excited, for it was from apprehension on 
this very point that they had opposed the national plan, — 
not so, they replied, or our states, with their scanty votes, 
will be utterly absorbed in the larger states. One of the 
small states, Delaware, sent her representatives, as may 



THE CONSTITUTION. 287 

be remembered, with express instructions to reserve her 

equal vote in the national legislature. But the federal 

party, already disappointed, found itself doomed to a fresh 

disappointment. Abandoning, or intimating that it was 

willing to abandon, the claim of an equal vote in both 

branches of the legislature, it stood the firmer for equality 

in one of the branches — the Senate of the Constitution. 

Even this more moderate demand was disregarded by the 

majority, intent upon unequal votes in both the branches. 

Great agitation followed. " We will sooner sub- 
Agitation. , ^ 

mit to foreign power ! " cried a representative from 

one of the small states. But for the reference of the 
matter to a committee, who, at the instance of Franklin, 
adopted a compromise, making the votes of the states equal 
in the Senate, the work of the Convention would have come 
to a sudden close. As it Avas, the report of the committee 
hardly allayed the tumultuous passions that had been 
aroused. It but partly satisfied the small states, while it 
kindled the wrath of the large, secure as these thought 
themselves, upon the point which tliey were now required 
to yield. "If no compromise should take place," asked 
Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, " what will be the con- 
sequence ? A secession will take place, for some gentle- 
men seem decided on it." It was the federal party that 
talked of secession. The national party, no wiser, as a 
whole, spoke of the dismemberment and absorption of the 
smaller states, hinting at the sword. Two of the New 
York delegation, incensed or dejected by the triumphant 
course of the national members, deserted the Convention. 
" We were on the verge of dissolution," said Luther Martin, 
a member from Maryland, " scarce held together by the 
strength of a hair." Fortunately, peace prevailed. The 
compromise was accepted, and both national and federal 
members united in determining on an equal vote in the 
Senate and an unequal vote m the House that were to be. 



288 TAUT III. 170:J-17'J7. 

„ ,. Anollicr division Ix'-idcs that botwoon the larjre 

rurti"s: ^ 

n..ith uM.i and tlic small states had now apix-'aird. It s<'pa- 
ratud the nortli from tlie soulli. How many 
reasons there were for the separation has been remarked ; 
but tlie reason of all, the one 8Q strong as to lead men to 
aeknowledir*' that the division between the north and the 
sonth was wider than any other in the Convention, — the 
great reason w;is slavery. This system, pierced, if not 
overthrt)wn, in all the Northern and in some of the Central 
States, was still cherished in the south. The scanty num- 
bers of the free population in the Southern States seemed 
to maJce slaves a necessity there. 

The first struprgle upon the ])oint arose with re- 

Apixir- . ... 

tinnment spcct to the api)ortionment ot representation. Jt 
oJ "opre- ^Yjjg ^Q 1^^ decided how the people weni to be reijre- 
sented, in what proportions, and in what classes. 
Upon this sul)ject all other questions yielded to one, 
namely, whether slaves should be included with free- 
men, not, of course, as voting, but as making up tlie num- 
ber entitled to representation. The extreme jjarty of the 
south said that they must be, and on the same terms, being 
equally valuable as the free laborers of the nortJi. On the 
other hand, the extreme party of the north declared that 
slaves should never be taken into account until they were 
emancipated, as they ought to be. The necessity for com- 
promise was again evident. Tlie moderate members of 
either side came together, and agreed that three fifths of 
the slave population should be enumerated with the whole 
of the white poj)ulation in apportioning the representatives 
amongst the different states. 

Tho slave A gravcr point was i*nised. In the draught of the 
trade. Constitution now under di.'bate, there stood a clause 
forbidding the general government to lay any tiix or prohi- 
bition upon the migrations or the importations authorized 



THE CONSTITUTION. 289 

by the states. This signified that there was to be no inter- 
ference with the slave trade. "It is inconsistent," ex- 
claimed Martin, of Maryland, " with the principles of the 
revolution, and dishonorable to the American character, to 
have such a feature in the Constitution ! " " Rehgion and 
humanity," answered John Rutledge, of South Carolina, 
" have nothing to do with this question. Interest alone is 
the governing principle of nations. The true question at 
present is, whether the Southern States shall or shall not 
be parties to the Union." Charles C. Pmckney, calmer than 
his colleague, took broader ground. " If the states be lell at 
liberty on this subject. South Carolina may perhaps by de- 
grees do of herself what is wished, as Virginia and Maryland 
have already done." The opposition to the claims of the 
extreme south came from the Central States, especially from 
Virginia, not from the north. The north, intent upon the 
passage of acts protective of its large shipping interests, 
was quite ready to come to an understanding with the 
south. The consequence was that, instead of imitating the 
example of earlier years and declaring the slave trade at an 
end, the Convention protracted its existence for twenty 
years, (till 1808.) At the same time, the restriction upon 
acts relating to commerce was stricken from the Constitu- 
tion. Dark as this transaction seems, it was still a com- 
promise. To extend the slave trade for twenty years was 
far better than to leave it without any limit at all. It was 
at the close of these discussions that the draught of the clause 
respecting fugitive slaves was introduced, and accepted 
without discussion. The word slaves, however, was avoided 
here, as it had been in all the portions of the Constitution 
relating to slavery. 

There is no occasion in this place for dwelling 
an?dS- upon the details and the discussions of the Conven- 
cussious. ^.^^^ Wherever there was a detail, there was al- 
25 



290 TART III. 1763-1707. 

most invariably a iliscussion ; hut llie intorost in the dehates 
generally was altogether siihordiiiate to that excited by the 
questions which have been mentioned. On these, as the 
(juestions involving compromise, it was felt tliat the Consti- 
tution depended. "The Constitution which we now pre- 
sent " — thus ran the draught of a letter proposed to be ad- 
dressed to Congress — "is the result of a spirit of amity 
and of that mutual deference and concession which the 
peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensable." 
" I can well recollect," said James Wilson to his constitu- 
ents of Pennsylvania, " the impression which on many occa- 
sions was made by the ditriculties which surrounded and 
pressed the Convention. The great undertaking sometimes 
seemed to be at a stand; and oilier times its motions 
seemed to be retrograde." 

At length, alter nearly four months' perseverance 
ofthe through all the heat of sunmier, tiie Convention 
Constitu- agreed to the Constitution, (Se])tember 15.) As 

tion. ^ ' \ 1 / 

soon as it could be pro]ierly engrossed, it was signed 
by all the delegates, save Gerry, of Massachusetts, — who 
hinted at civil war being about to ensue, — Kandolph and 
George Mason, of Virginia, (September 17.) As the last 
members werci signing, Franklin pointed to a sun painted 
upon the back of the president's cliair, saying, "I hav(* often 
and often, in tlie course of the session and the vicissitude 
of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that sua 
behind the president, without being able to tell whether it 
was rising or setting ; but now, at length, I have the happi- 
ness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun." 
Opposition ^^^ dawn was still uncertain. Presented to 
inthuna- Congress, and thence transmitted to the states, to 
be by them accepted or rejected, the Constitution 
was received with very general murmurs. Even some 
members of the Convention, on reaching home, declared, 



THE CONSTITUTION. 291 

like Martin, of Maryland, " I would reduce myself to indi- 
gence and poverty, . . . if on those terms only I could 
procure my country to reject those chains which are forged 
for it." The words imply the chief cause of the opposition 
excited throughout the nation. It was thought that the 
Constitution was too strong, that it exalted the powers of 
the government too high, and depressed the rights of the 
states and the people too low. This was the opinion of the 
anti-federalists — a name borne rather than assumed by 
those who had constituted, or by those who succeeded to, the 
federal party in the Convention. On the other side stood 
the federalists, tlie national party of the Convention, with 
their adherents throughout the country. But the names, 
like most party names, rather obscured than explained the 
relations of those to whom they were attached. The feder- 
alists were no advocates of a simple league between the 
states. Nor were the anti-federalists the opponents of such 
a league, but, on the contrary, its supporters. They op- 
posed, not the union, but what they called the subjection of 
the states, proposed by the Constitution. 
^ ,. One who acted for the Constitution at the time, 

Coustitu- ' 

tionai and v/ho wrote of it in after years, — Jeremy Bel- 
wu ingb. jjj^j^p^ ^l^gjj 3^ clergyman of Boston, — tells a story 
illustrating the changing tempers of the period. A man has 
a new pair of small-clothes brought home to him. " It is too 
small here, says he, and wants to be let out ; it is too big 
here, and wants to be taken in. I am afraid there will be a 
hole there, and you must put on a patch ; this button is not 
strong enough — you must set on another." But, taking 
his wife's advice, he tried on the garment, and found him- 
self satisfied. The constitutional writings, as they may be 
called, of the twelvemonth succeeding the Convention, were 
far in advance of any preceding productions of America. 
The greatness of the cause called forth new powers of 



202 PART ITI. 17C:{-1707. 

mind, nay, uow i)()W('rs of heart. Wasliinf^ton's lottors 
upon the subject overllow wiili emotions sucli a> his cahii 
demeanor had sel(U)m betrayed l)eibro. Under the sij^na- 
tiire of Pubhus, Ahxander Ilamihon, James Mathson, and 
John rhiy iinite(l in tiie composition of the Federalist. It 
was a succession of essays, some prolbund in ar^nnnent, 
otiiers thrilHni!^ in appeal, and all <h*voted to setting; fbrtli 
the ])rincipl(s and foretelling the operations of the Consti- 
tution. Under the signature of Fabius, John Dickinson — 
the same whose Farmer's Letters had i)leaded for liberty 
twenty years before — now pleaded for constitutional gov- 
ernment. It Wcos not merely the Con.-titution that was thus 
rendered clear and precious. The subject was as wide as 
the rights of man. 

, , ,. So strong and so wise exertion was not in vain, 

by the State after state, beginning with Delaware, (De- 
^ ^ *^^' cember 7, 1787,) assented to the Constitution, some 
by large, some by exceedingly small majorities. In most 
of the bodies by which the ratification was declared, a series 
of amendments was framed and passed. North Carolina 
assented only on condition of her amendments being adopt- 
ed. In one of the state Conventions, New York, the recom- 
mendation of another general Convention was })ressed upon 
the nation. New York was the scene of more decided 
demonstrations. The list of what can be called riots 
throughout the country, at the time, begins and ends with a 
collision between two bands of the rival parties, at Albany, 
and the destruction of the type in an anti-federalist news- 
paper establishment at New York, (July 4-27, 1788.) 
The project of a second Convention found favor in Pennsyl- 
vania. It was then taken up by the assembly of Virginia, 
but after the Convention of that state had accepted the Con- 
stitution. In seeing thes(» states arrayed in greater or less 
strength against the Constitution, one is struck by their 



THE CONSTITUTION. 293 

being large states, to which the Constitution was supposed 
to be particularly acceptable. The other of the largest 
states, Massachusetts, had but a bare majority to give in 
favor of the Constitution. On the other hand, several of 
the small states were now the most earnest supporters of 
federalist principles. The causes of this revolution were 
chiefly local. But, actuated by different motives, the large 
states, or rather the parties in the large state.-, opposing the 
unconditional adoption of the Constitution, were unable to 
combine with any effect. The generous impulses and the 
united exertions of their opponents carried the day. Only 
North Carolina and Rhode Island stood aloof, and the 
former but partially, when Congi^ess performed the last act 
preliminary to the estabUshment of the Constitution, by 
appointing days for the requisite elections and for the or- 
ganization of the new government, (September 13, 1788.) 

Thus was completed the most extraordinary 
of the transaction of which merely human history bears 
trausac- record. A nation enfeebled, dismembered, and 

tiou. ' 

dispirited, broken by the losses of war, by the dis- 
sensions of peace, incapacitated for its duties to its own citi- 
zens or to foreign powers, suddenly bestirred itself and 
prepared to create a government. It chose its representa- 
tives without conflicts or even commotions. They came 
together, at first only to disagree, to threaten, and to fail. 
But against the spells of individual selfishness and sectional 
passion, the inspiration of the national cause proved potent. 
The representatives of the nation consented to the measures 
on which the common honor and the common safety de- 
pended. Then the nation itself broke out in clamors. 
Still there was no violence, or next to none. No sort of 
contention arose between state and state. Each had its own 
differences, its own hesitations ; but when each had decided . 
for itself, it joined the rest and proclaimed the Constitution. 
25* 



294 PART III. 17G3-1797. 

Tho work lliiis acliicvf*! was not mcrolv for tlin 
Sympa- *' 

thy fur nation tliat acliicvcil it. In tiic niid-t of (heir 

uiaiikiiid. , , 11-1 ,• • • •!• 

donlits and tlicir dangers, a lew jjtcncrous si)irits, it 
no more, ^^athercd fresh conrage by looking beyond the 
limits of tiicir eountry. Let AVashington speak for them. 
*'I conceive," says lie, " und(*r an energetic general govern- 
ment, sneh regulations might be made, and such measures 
taken, as would render this country the asylum of pacific 
and industrious characters from all parts of Europe," — " a 
kind of asylum," as he says in another place, "for man- 
kind." It was not, therefore, for America alone that her 
sons believed themselves to have labored, but for the world. 
Lte tnr ^^ ^^'^^ already appeared that the writings of the sol- 
ofthe diers and the statesmen of the p(3riod were, in many 
tion "ud instances, as important as their actions. There 
tho Con- ^vere other writers, who stood conspicuous, solely or 

stitutiou. P 1 . T 

almost solely, on account or then' literary exertions. 
Such was Thomas Paine, an Englishman, whose pamphlet 
of Common Sense (1770) had so great an effect tliat its 
author, though tlum but a few months in the country, pre- 
tended afterwards to have started the revolution. His 
later pamplilets, issued during the war under tlie name of 
the Crisis, were of equal power. Amongst the American 
authors were John Trumbull, of Connecticut, whose i)oem 
of McFingal (begun 1774) was a satire at once upon his 
countrymen and upon their foes ; Francis Hopkinson, of 
Philadelphia, who, after various productions in prose and in 
rhyme relating to the war, came to the aid of the Constitu- 
tion in an allegory entitled the New Roof; and Philip Fre- 
neau, of New York, whose verses upon the battles of the 
revolution were amongst the most popular and the most 
artistic compositions of the times. The influence of such a 
literature may be conceived. It spread the stirring spirit 
of the cam[) and of the council around the fireside and 



THE CONSTITUTION. 295 

within the closet, kindling sympathy, arousing action, and 

thus contributing largely to the national redemption. 

_,, Nor should we forsret, in this connection, the in- 

The mil- <-' ^ ' 

sic of Bii- fluence of the first of our composers, WiUiam Bil- 
^"°^" lings, a Bostonian. Such was his enthusiasm at 
once for his art and for his country, that, though almost 
uneducated as a musician, he moved many a spirit by his 
ardent strains. His melodies were heard on the march and 
on the battle field as well as in the choir ; such as his Inde- 
pendence and' his Columbia may be called psalms of the 
revolution and of the Constitution. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Washington's Administration. 

„ , . The name of "Wasliin^Tjton was almost a part of 

ton prea- tlic Constitution. " The Constitution would never 
have been adopted," — thus Edmund Randolph, by 
no means a strong adherent to Washington, wrote to him 
afterwards, — '' but from a knowledge that you had onee 
sanctioned it, and an expectation that you would execute 
it." " The Constitution," Lafayette wrote at once from 
Paris, " satisfies many of our desires ; but I am much mis- 
taken if there are not some points that would be perilous, 
liad not the United States the happiness of possessing their 
guardian angel, who will lead them to whatever still remains 
to be done before reaching perfection." Such was the 
universal voice of the nation, and of the nation's well 
^^^shers. The presidential electors gave in their votes 
without a single exception in favor of Washington ; and he 
consented to what he had reason to call " this last great 
sacrifice." " I bade adieu to Mount Vernon," he writes in 
liis diary, " to private life, and to domestic felicity ; and 
with a mind oppressed with more anxious and painful sen- 
sations than I have words to express, set out with the best 
disposition to render service to my country in obedience 
to its call, but with less hope of answering its expecta- 
tions." 

The two houses of Congress had been organized in New 

(296) 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 297 

York, after a month's delay.* A day or two before 
tion^of^*" Washington's arrival, John Adams took his place as 
govern- y^^Q president. The mauguration of the presi- 
dent, postponed a few days after he was ready for 
the ceremony, at length completed the organization of the 
government, (April 30, 1789.) 
„ , . It was one thino- for Washino^ton to receive the 

Solemni- ® ° 

ty of the homages of his countrymen, on his journey to the 
^'^^ ' seat of government, and on his entrance into office 
there ; all tliis was smiling to the eye, and full of promise 
to the ear. But it was another thing to remember the 
weaknesses and the divisions of the nation ; to behold the 
present sources of peril ; and to feel that the Constitution 
was still an untried instrument, unmoved, perhaps unmov- 
able. Whatever has been said of the solemnity of former 
periods, or of former duties, must be repeated with stronger 
emphasis of the work now before Washington and his 
coadjutors. Of far greater difficulty than the formation of 
the Constitution was the setting it in operation. Washing- 
ton knew it all. And almost the first words which broke 
from his lips, as president of the United States, were words 
of prayer. " It would be peculiarly improper," he said at 
the beginning of his inaugural speech, " to omit in this first 
official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being 
who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils 
of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every 
human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the 
liberties and happiness of the people of the United States, 
a government instituted by themselves for these essential 
purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its 



* March 4 being the appointed day; and the House not having a 
quorum till March 30, the Senate none till April 6. 



298 TAUT III. 17G;J-1797. 

ailiniiiistriUion to execute witli success the iunctions allotted 
to his chai'ge." 

AVasthiiig- In the same s])iiit Washiufjton invoked tlie sup- 
ton to his .^ q|« tijQj;(3 around him, not merely as his fellow- 
Chris- countrymen, but as his fellow-Chi-istians. Among 
all the addre^ses hailinj^ his accession to the presi- 
dency, from political and industrial, from literary and scien- 
tific bodies, none seemed to })lcase him more than tiiose 
received from relii^ious organizations. In his replies, he 
remarks upon his need of their sympathies and prayers. 
Convinced that nothing could so bind the nation together 
as chanty amongst the different branches of Christians, he 
insists upon it with peculiar earnestness. In an address to 
his own church, the Protestant Episco})al, he expresses his 
joy " to see Christians of ditferent denominations dwell 
together in more charity, and conduct themselves in respect 
to each other with a more Christian-like spirit, than (n-er 
they have done in any former age or in any other nation." 
To the church that had been an object of persecution 
through the whole colonial );eriod, the Roman Catholic, 
the i)resident wrote as follows : " I hope ever to see 
America among tlie foremost nations in examples of justice 
and liberality. And I presume that your fellow-citizens 
will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the 
accomplishment of their revolution, and the estabhshmcnt 
of their government." 

The na- These principles, so far above any of a merely 
tioM. political cliai^-acter, were to be apj)lied to a nation 
now numbering nearly four millions.* This was the pojiu- 
lation of all the thirteen states. The Constitution, as will 
be recollected, went into operation with the assent of but 



* The census of 1700 pave, whites, 3,172,4G4 ; free blacks, o9,4GG 
slaves, GD7,b'J7 : total, 3,929,827- 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 299 

eleven. North Carolina acceded in eight months, (Novem- 
ber 13 ;) Rhode Island in fifteen, (May 29, 1790.) 

The great feature of the opening years of Wash- 
Con-'^ress. i^gton's administration was the work of Congress, 
The de- the body upon whose laws the government depend- 
ments ed for movement, if not for life. The departments 
and the -^q^q organized ; one of state, one of the treasury. 

judiciary. ^ ^ '' ' 

and one of war ; each being under the control of a 
secretary. The three secretaries, with an attorney general, 
constituted the cabinet of the president ; the postmaster 
general not being a cabinet officer until a later period. 
Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson the first secretary 
of state, Alexander Hamilton the first secretary of the 
treasury, Henry Knox the first secretary of war, Ed- 
mund Randolph the first attorney general, and Samuel 
Osgood the first postmaster general, (September, 1789.) 
At the same time, he made his appointments for the offices 
of the judiciary ; Congress having created a Supreme 
Court, with Circuit and District Courts appended. John 
Jay was the first chief justice of the United States. 

Congress had already launched into constitution- 
mentsto ^1 discussions. The amendments to the Constitu- 
the Con- ^j^^^ proposed by the different states, were numerous 

Btitution. ' 1 r .7 7 

enough — fifty and upwards — to call for early at- 
tention. It was not suggested either by the states or by 
their congressional representatives, to make any fundamen- 
tal alterations in the Constitution. The old federal, now 
the anti-federalist party, from whom most of the amend- 
ments came, asked for no subversion of the national system. 
They were contented with a few articles, declaring the 
states and the people in possession of all the powers and 
all the rights not expressly surrendered to the general 
government. These articles, to the number of ten, were 
adopted by Congress, and accepted by the states. 



1)1)0 PAKl III. 1703-1797. 

A far more vital matter was the rpvcnue. To 

Rovonno. 

this Conj^ress addressed itself in tiie first weeks of 
the session. The result of long and dillieult debates was 
the enactment of a tarilf, intended to serve at once for 
revenue and lor j)r()t('cti()n of domestic intrn'Sts. A ton- 
nap' diitv, with LM-cat aihaiitages to AnicricaM shipping, 
was also adcjjited. Some time afterwards, indeed towards 
the close of the lirst Congress, an excise was laid on domes- 
tic >j)irils. Tlic.-e measures were modified at intervals. 
IJut hcmalli tlicni, in all their forms, there continued the 
principle, that the duties upon imports were to provide for 
government in the shape of a revenue, and for the nation 
in the shape of protection. It was no time for free trade. 
It fell to the first Congress, likewise, to provide 

for the public credit. The debts of the Confedera- 
tion amounted to iifty-four millions of dollars, or to eighty 
millions if the debts of the states, incurred for general 
objects, were added. It was the plan of Hamilton, secre- 
tary of the treasury, that these debts should be taken as a 
whole to be a-^sumed and funde(I by the new government. 
All sorts of o})inions were started. Agreeing that the 
foreign debt should be treated in the mann(^r proposed, the 
members of Congress were altogether at variance upon the 
subject, first, of the domestic debt due from the Confeder- 
ation itself, and second, of the debt due from the separate 
states of the Confederation.^ On tlie first point, it was 
argued by a large number, that the certificates of the 
})ul)lic debt were no longer in the hands of the original 
holdei-s, and that to fund them at their par value wjis 
simjdy to put money into the pockets of speculators to 
wlioin the first holders had transferred thefh at great sacri- 
fices. On the second j)oint, that of assuming the state 
debts, the oj)position was still more earnest, especially from 
the representatives of those states whose exertions during 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 301 

the war of the revolution had been comparatively limited. 
It was a matter, moreover, to be supported or opposed 
according to the various views of the state and the national 
governments. They who, like the proposer of the system, 
desired to see the national government strong, advocated its 
being made the centre of the public credit ; while they 
who inclined to the rights of the states, preferred to have 
the debt remain in state rather than in national stocks. 

The question was not decided upon any abstract 

Manner ■■• i ./ 

of de- grounds. It had been a bone of contention Avhere 
the seat of the general government should be locat- 
ed, some going for one place and some for another. When 
the House of Representatives decided against assuming the 
state debts, the advocates of the assumption hit upon the 
plan of securing the necessary votes from some of the 
Virginian or Maryland members, by consenting to fix the 
projected capital on the Potomac.^ The bait was snapped 
at, and a measure on which the honor of the states, if not 
of the nation, depended, passed by means of unconcealed 
intrigue. The state debts were then assumed, not in mass, 
but in certain proportions. This being the chief object of 
altercation, the funding of the domestic and foreign debt of 
the general government M^as rapidly completed, (August 4, 
1790.) The transaction was by no means to the satisfac- 
tion of the entire nation. Even Virginia, whose represen- 
tatives had voted for the scheme, considering their state to 
be amply repaid by the location of the capital on the 
Potomac, declared against the whole system, save only that 
part relating to the foreign debt. The funding of the 
general domestic debt was pronounced to be " dangerous to 
the rights, and subversive of the interests, of the people ; " 
while that of the state debts was " repugnant to the Consti- 
tution." The opposition did not end here. 

* Philadelphia to be the capital until 1800. 
26 



302 PART III. 1703-1797. 

National Tlic public, orolitors, on t!i(! other hand, w<^re dc- 
i>a"k. h^hted. /All tho nioncyc'd interests of the country, 
indeed, were (iuickene(l,'the public bonds being t^o nnieii 
additional capital thrown into the world of indu.-try and of 
commerce. The creation of a national bank, with the design 
of sustaining the financial operations of government, took 
place in the early part of the folhjwing year, (17*.tl.)\ On 
the opt'iijnLf of the subscription books, a signal })roof of the 
confidence now placed in the national credit was given, thr 
whole number of shares olfered being taken up in two 
hours. /"At the same time, the number and the earnestness 
of the party averse to these movements of the government 
wore increased by the success with which they were attended. 
It had been made a question in the very cabinet of the pres- 
ident, by Jetferson and Randolph, whether the charter of the 
bank was not beyond the limits of the Constitution. Wash- 
ington himself had hesitated to approve the act of Congress. 
The construction of the Constitution was one of 

Parties. . , . , . 

the pomts on which parties were now contending. 
It was a natural principle with the federalists that tiui Con- 
stitution should be interi)reted freely ; that is, in such a 
way as to give the goveinm(;nt the full measure of its 
powers. On the other hand, the anti-federalists were for 
limiting the provisions of the Constitution, if not as far as 
possible, at least as far as they thought required liy t]i<». 
independence of the states and of the peoj)h'. Every sub- 
ject brought before Congress excited questions of congres- 
sional powers. The organization of tli(^ go\ernment, the 
creation of a tariff, of a national debt, antl, iis just men- 
tioned, of a bank, all were argued for or against, according 
to the different views of the work to ))e done by Congress. 
l*arty spirit, however, w;us by no means confined to consti- 
tutional ai-guments. It appeared on every occasion, charg- 
ing the federalists, now the dominant class, with monarchi- 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 303 

cal schemes as their ends, and with corrupt dealings as their 
means ; while the anti-federalists, who took the name of re- 
publicans, were accused of tendencies to intrigue and to 
sedition. So violent was the temper on both sides, that the 
cry went up of separation from the Union. This, too, 
when the Union was but just formed. 

Es eciaii ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ *^® passions SO prematurely exploding, 
north and nouc wcrc SO threatening as those of the north and 

the south. The same division that had been ob- 
served to be wider than any other . before the Constitution^, 
continued wdder than any still. Even the controversies 
between the federalists and the republicans were not so 
great or so absorbing as to crowd out the matters of dis- 
sension between the Southern and the Northern States. 
Nay, the divisions of the two portions of the country were 
rather enhanced by those between the two parties ; for 
although there were many republicans in the north and 
many federalists in the south, yet the south, as a general 
rule, was republican, and the north federalist. This was 
inevitable. The interests of the northern industry, its ship- 
ping, its commerce, and its manufactures, called for a very 
different policy on the part of the government from tliat 
demanded by the southern agriculture. 

The great line of distinction was run by slavery, 
concern- The points of tliis thorny subject, so far from being 
ing sia- smoothed by the compromises of the Constitution, 

stood up as bristling as ever. In tlie very first year 
of the new government, there came petitions from the 
Quakers of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, ask- 
ing for the abolition of the slave trade. With this, as stated 
in the account of the Convention, Congress had no power to 
interfere for a period of twenty years. But the introduc- 
tion of the subject brouglit up a storm, as it was called by 
a member from Georgia, which lasted for days and even 



.')04 PAiri' III. 17(;;;-I7'.t7 

weeks, until the adopiion of ;i coininiitec's report tliat Con- 
gress hail no autlioi-ity over the shive track', except with 
foreign eomitiics, until ISO.S, the date })reseribe(l hy the 
Constitution. Al thf same time, all i)rctensions to control 
the treatment or the <'niancipali()!i of >la\fs, in the states 
"where tliey existed, were expressly ahjin-ed by Congress. 
This did not prevent an earnest Delaware Quaker from 
petitioning some two or three years afterwards for the abo- 
lition of slavery. The petition was returned to the peti- 
tioner, (Noveml)er, 171)2.) A later memorial, (January, 
17'Jl,) from a convention of societies for the abolition of 
slavery, held at Philadel{»hia, asking Congress to take such 
measures as the Constitution allowed against the slave 
trade, n^sulted in an act prohibiting the trade with foreign 
lands. 80 far as related to the slave trade, there seems to 
have been no opposition on the part of the Southern States 
to its suppression. They were all moving more or less 
actively in the same direction.* What they opposed was 
the interference of Congress with slavery' within the limits 
of the country. 

As to tiio ^^^ ^^^^^ particular point the opposing theories of 
tonito- after years were not yet distinctly fomied. But 
there was an evident foreboding of future divisions. 
It wiis generally agreed that Congress had no power in 
relation to slavery in the states. But it was generally 
urged on one side, and by no means generally repelled on 
the other, that the existence of slavery, as of any other sys- 
tem, in the territories, did depend upon Congress. There 
were the clauses of the Constitution — "The Congress 
shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rples 
and regulations respecting, the territory or other proj)erty 



* The traffic was prohibited in all the states by 1798. South Carolina, 
however, revived it in 1801. 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 305 

belonging to the United States ;" « New states may be admit- 
ted by the Congress into this Union." On these the oppo- 
nents of slavery relied, as empowering Congress to exclude 
the system from any territories to be organized, or any 
states to be admitted. The great precedent of the North- 
west Territory, where slavery was expressly prohibited by 
the Congi-ess of the Confederation, was ratified by the first 
Congresl under the Constitution. It claimed— so the north- 
ern men felt— to be not only ratified, but followed. That it 
might be followed, was distinctly amongst the apprehensions 
of the southerners, the more naturally from its having been 
proposed by one of themselves, Thomas Jefi-erson, as we 
have read, to exclude slavery from all the unsettled territo- 
ries. When North CaroHna ceded her western lands to the 
Union, she did so on the express condition -that no regula- 
tion made or to be made by Congress shall tend to the 
emancipation of slaves," (1789.) 

Here was the starting point of all future strife, 
starting j^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^ie powcr of Cougrcss to reject the pro- 
Ttum' posed condition on the ground that its authority 
''"^- over the territories was not thus to be trammelled. 
Or it might have taken exactly the opposite ground, and 
declared that it had no right to impose any conditions 
upon the territories. Supposing either position to have 
been taken permanently, the question of slavery in the ter- 
ritories might have come up again. But the constitutional 
principle on which it could be decided as often as it re- 
curred, would have been estabhshed. Of aU this there 
seems to have been little or no perception. Not even 
Washington — he who was so fixed against all sectional 
divisions — exerted himself to close this prolific source of 
bitterness and of contention. Congress accepted the cession 
of North Carolina, and organized the district as the Terri- 
tory South of the Ohio, (1790.) 
2G* 



306 PAKT III. 17G3-1797. 

Profddpn- IMeaiiwliilt' th(; unity of tlie ooiintry, do^^pito its 
*'"'^"'"^- part i<'s and its broils, had Ixmmi haj.pily illustrated 
in the toms of tlic i)n'sid(Mit. He lirst \i-ilt(l the New 
Enj^land States, Kliodc I>laiid excepted,* (October, No- 
vend)er, 17S1> ;) then Rhode Island, (Auj^ust, 179U;) and, 
lastly, the Central and South«'ni States, (April-June, 
17'J1.) No earihly jiotentate had ever received such hom- 
age as tlie republican magistrate, the revolutionary chief, 
the Christian man, all blended in Washington. It was a 
homage otiered j)rincii)ally to the individual, but the light 
which shone about iuni was disused over the nation of 
which he was the* head and the repre^entative. 
-,. , - The states had not been idle. They wei'O learn- 

Work of •' 

the ing their new relations to the general government, 

and, through this, to one another. Within their 
own boi'ders, much was to be done to set up the law that 
had been shaken and the order that had been disturbed for 
the ten, twenty, or even thirty years before. Many of the 
late Constitutions were remodelled, and some new ones 
were framed. 

New New states were presenting themselves for admis- 

Btates. gjQj^ j^j^^ ^jjg jjj^^, Q^ Ij^g thirteen. The consent of 

New York having been obtained, Vermont was admitted, 
(Miirch 4, 1791.) Provision was already made for the en- 
trance of Kentucky in the following year, (June 1, 1792.) 
The Territory South of the Ohio was subsequently admitted 
as the State of Tennessee, (June 1, 179G.) 

But the interest of the peiiod was concentrated 

Depend- t, , • . /. , 

enro upon ^n the general government. By this, it was lelt, 
Waahiug- and not by any local authorities or any local move- 
ments, the difficulties of the nation were to be met 
and overcome. The general government itself was concen- 

♦ Not then a member of the Union. 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 307 

trated in Washington. They who deny him power of char- 
acter, acknowledging his excellence and his judiciousness, 
without acknowledging his inspiration of thought and his 
energy of action, may turn to the group gathered at Phila- 
delphia, the capital, and see the eyes of their heroes, fed- 
eralist or republican, northerner or southerner, all fixed on 
Washington for protection, especially as the four years of 
his presidency drew to a close. Jefferson, the head of the 
republicans, wrote to him, " The confidence of the whole 
Union is centred in you. Your being at the helm will be 
more than an answer to every argument which can be used 
to alarm and lead the people in any quarter into violence or 
secession. North and south will hang together, if they 
have you to hang on." " It is clear," wrote Hamilton, the 
leader of the federalists, "that a general and strenuous 
effort is making in every state to place the administration 
of the national government in the hands of its enemies, as 
if they were its safest guardians ; that the period of the 
next House of Representatives is likely to prove the 
crisis of its permanent character ; that, if you continue in 
office, nothing materially mischievous is to be apprehended 
— if you quit, much is to be dreaded." Randolph, the 
attorney general, — a sort of leader to a middle party, 
neither wholly federalist nor wholly republican, — was 
equally pressing. " The fuel," he wrote to Washington, 
" which has been already gathered for combustion, wants 
no addition. But how awfully might it be increased, were 
the violence which is now suspended by a universal sub- 
mission to your pretensions let loose by your resignation ! " 
Thus urged, Washington could do no less than accept the 
unanimous summons to another term of labor for his coun- 
try. Adams was again chosen vice president, (1792-93.) 

There was one thing over which Washington had no 
influence. The animosity of parties had spared him, but 



'MS PART III. 17GS-1707. 

. . without hvh\^ clu'ckod by him. He vauily exerted 

Ityofj.iir- hiins«'lt" to k«('|) tin- pcaci', even in his own cahiiRt. 
.IcH'crsoii .'iinl I I:iiiiih(»ii wt-rc at swords' points, and 
at swords' points tiny renuiined until driH-rson retinMl, 
(17'Jl.) In Cougi-e.ss, all was uproar. The sli^ditest ([ucs- 
tion sufficed to set the northerner ajjainst the southerner, 
the federalist aj]^ainst the n^publiean. Out of Conj^njss, the 
tumult was increasing. Intiuences to which we must revert 
had swelled the dissensions of the nation witli " very dif- 
ferent views," as AVa>hin2;ton wrote, " some bad, and, if I 
mlLdil be allowed to ust; so harsh an expression, diabolical." 
A now party, chielly from the repubhcan ranks, had <rMt]i- 
ercd, under the name of democrats, in societies of wliich 
the modid was taken f"n»ni al)ro:i(l, and which, as AVasliinu^- 
ton wrote, miujht " shake the government to its foundation." 
The fearful passion of the time at length broke 

Insurrcc- . , . /. i • 

tion in out in msurrcction. In consequence ot the excise 
Pennsyi- ^,p,jn domestic spiHts, some parts of the country 
where distillation was common had been greatly 
discontented. North Carolina and Pennsylvania, or rather 
the interior counties of those states, had been agitated to 
such a degree, that the president deemed it necessary to 
issue a proclamation, calling upon his fellow-citizens to 
support the laws, (17'J2.) The excitement gradually sub- 
sided, except in Pennsylvania, where, after various acts of 
violence, an armed convention, i^vxcn thousand strong, m«'t 
at Braddock's Field, (August, 1794.) The president of 
this assembly was a Colonel Cook, the secretary, Albert 
Gallatin, a Swiss emigrant ; an<l the commander of the 
tnjops a lawyer nann^d l^radford. Of course, the obj<'cts 
of so large a body were various ; some being intent merely 
upon suspending the collection of the excise, while others 
meditated the j)ossessi(m of the country, and separation 
from the I'nion. Tiie })resident at once put forth a })rocla- 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 309 

mation, " warning the insurgents to desist from their oppo- 
sition to the laws." Commissioners were at the same time 
appointed to proceed to the scene of disturbance, and per- 
suade the actors to return to their duty. It being found, 
however, that notliing but force, or the show of force, would 
put down the insurrection, another proclamation, was pub- 
lished, announcing the march of fifteen thousand militia 
from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. 
The president himself took the field for a few days; but 
finding that the insurgents had disappeared before the 
approach of his troops, he left his officers — General Henry 
Lee, governor of Virginia, being commander-in-chief — to 
complete the work that was no sooner begun than it was 
ended. A considerable number of j^risoners was taken ; 
but no executions followed, (November.) Enough had 
been done to decide " the contest," as Washington described 
it, " whether a small proportion of the United States shall 
dictate to the whole Union." 

Indian The Same year (1794) witnessed the suppression 

wars. Qf ^ danger, half domestic and half foreign — a 
long-continued Indian war.' It broke out, four years before, 
on the attempt of various western tribes to recover the 
country as far as the Ohio. A thousand men, partly United 
States troops, and partly militia from Pennsylvania and 
Kentucky, were sent into the heart of the hostile region. 
Two detachments, under Colonel Hardin, fell into ambus- 
cades ; while the main body, under General Harmer, 
marched, countermarched, and at length retreated, (1790.) 
The next year, after several incursions of volunteers into 
the Indian territory, an army of some two thousand, under 
General St. Clair, started, late in the autumn, to reduce the 
enemy. Delayed by the construction of forts, the troops 
were advancing but slowly, when they were surprised in 
camp, and utterly routed by the Indians, (1791.) Two 



310 PAKT Til. m;M7'.>7. 

years passed in fruitless iitlcinpts at lu'^z^otialion. An army 
of three or four thousand, slowly enli.-tcil undt-r tlu' coin- 
inaiid nt" (JciH ral \\'Myn(', tlie hero of Stony Point, at 
len;i;th proeeedcil to more deeisive measures. Spending; the 
winter and the si)ring in eanip, Wayne took the field in the 
following summer. Seeuring his rear by forts along the 
route whieh he pursued, he overtook and completely van- 
(juished the Indians, driving them from their posts, and 
laying waste their fields, (17*.>l.) A tre^aty madr Avitli 
"VVayne a year afterwards (171)0) renounced the ehiims 
whieh had led the unhappy Indians into war. There still 
remained uj)on the south-western borders the restless tril)es 
that ha<l taken up arms from time to time during the war 
with their brethren of the north-west. Peace with them 
was made a year later, (170G.) In both treaties, the United 
States took an attitude never before assumed by the whites, 
as a nation, towards the red man. The truth tliat the 
Indians were not the aggressors so much as the borderei-s, 
nay, the United States themselves, seems to have been 
tacitly recognized by the indemnities to the conquered or 
the pacified tribes. 

Indian It was equally new in the history of the Indian 

interests. YixcGy that the whitc men should unite nationally in 
supplying their wants and improving their relations. No 
))art of "Washington's administration, domestic or foreign, 
was more original or more benign than the policy Avliich he 
constantly urged towards the Indians of the United States. 
To save them from the frauds of traders, a national system 
of trade was adopted. To protect them from the aggres- 
sions of borderers, as well as to secure them in the rights 
allowed them by their treaties, a number of laws were pre- 
pared. " I add with pleasure," said the president in one 
of his later addresses to Congress, "■ that the probability of 
their civilization is not diiiiiiii>hcd l)y the experiments which 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 311 

have been thus far made under tlie auspices of government. 
The accompHshment of this work, if practicable, will reflect 
undecaying lustre on our national character, and administer 
the most grateful consolation that virtuous minds can know," 
(December, 1795.) 

Among the agents employed by the administra- 
weider, tion in dealing with the Indians was a remarkable 
the mis- uian. Jolm Heckewelder, born in England, of 

sionary. , o / 

German parentage, came to Pennsylvania in his 
youth, and there in his early manhood became a missionary 
of the United Brethren, or Moravians, amongst the Dela- 
wares and the Mohegans, (1771.) His life thenceforward 
was devoted to the Indians. He preached to them, that 
they might be converted to God. He wrote of them, that 
they might be respected of men. " I still indulge the 
hope," he wrote in his old age, " that this work [for the 
Indians] will be accomplished by a wise and benevolent 
government." 
_, ., , A far more savasre foe than the Indian was 

Tribute » 

to Ai- appeased at the same period, but with much less 
^^^^^' credit, it must be added, to the nation. This was 
the Dey of Algiers, who, with a number of neighbors like 
himself, was wont to sweep the seas with piratical craft. 
Singular to say, the sway of these buccaneering potentates 
was acknowledged by the European states, who paid an 
annual tribute on condition of their commerce being spared. 
Ten years before the present date, the freebooters of the 
Dey of Algiers had captured two American vessels, and 
thrown their crews into bondage. He now (1795) consent- 
ed to release his captives, and to respect the merchantmen 
of the United States, on the reception of a tribute like that 
received from the powers of Europe. Three quarters of 
a million were paid down ; an annual payment of full 
fifty thousand dollars being promised in addition. Other 



812 PAKT 111. 1703-1707. 

freatics of the same sort with Tiijx)!! and Tunis were 
under way. 

Forei.'-n 'l^\iG rehitions of the riiit('(l States with civihzed 

loiiitiona. natious were hardly mure satisl'actory. The inon- 
arehies of Europ(^ k)oked down, if th<'y h)oked at all, ni)on 
tilt' infant r('i)ublie, of which many of them really knew 
almost nothing. AVhat was of vast moment to a i)eoi)le 
rising out of depression and of obscurity, was a trifle in the 
e}es of old states, accustomed to deal with gi-eat interests 
and with great resources. Their relations with America 
were matters of little concern to them. On the other hand, 
the relations of America to them, or to some of them, 
formed the chief j)oint of attention and of exertion with 
the American nation for a quarter of a century. 
Coinmcr- ^^"^ must go back to days over which we have 
ciai trea- passcd, in order to see how the United States pre- 
sented themselves to the older nations. " Our 
fatheiV' ^^^^ John Quincy Adams, himself a foreign min- 
ister under Washington, " extended the hand of friendship 
to every nation on the globe." Their first treaty, the one 
with f'rance, in which the affairs of commerce and of peace 
were mingled with those of alliance and of war, was fol- 
lowed by one with Prussia, (1785.) " This," remarked 
Adams, " consecrated three fundamental principles of for- 
eign intercourse. First, equal reciprocity and the mutual 
stipulation of the commercial exchanges of peace ; second- 
ly, the abolition of private war on the ocean ; and thirdly, 
restrictions favorable to neutral commerce upon belligerent 
parties with regard to contraband of Avar and blockades. 
These principles were assumed as cardinal points of the 
policy of the Union." It was a policy, however, in per- 
petual collision with the usages and prerogatives of the 
European powers ; so much so, that, though the young 
nation held out an open hand, it was met by contracted 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 313 

grasps. The state of things will appear as we go on to the 
negotiations of Washington's administration. 

Treaty ^^^ ^^ *^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^"^^ ^^^^ "^^'^^ Settled rela- 

with tions with the new government was Spain. That 
^*'"* power, through its colonial authorities in Florida, 
had been supposed to be tampering with the southern 
Indians. On the other hand, it was notorious that several 
expeditions from the southern and western frontiers were 
planned agamst the Spanish territory. All the while, the 
dividing line between Florida and the United States was 
unsettled, and the claim to the navigation of the Missis- 
sippi undetermined. Finally, a special envoy, Thomas 
Pinckney, was sent to Spam. It took him nearly a year 
to bring about a treaty defining the Florida boundary, 
and opening the Mississippi to the United States, (1795.) 
Even then the Spaniards delayed to fulfil provisions in 
which they took but small interest. 

Keiations '^^^ relations with Spain were bad enough. But 
with those with Great Britain and France were worse. 
Britain ^^ ^^^^ spcak of thesc nations together, since it 
and was their common, rather than their separate, influ- 

France. 

ences which operated to the extent that is to be 
described. Side by side, in the first place, were the feelings 
of amity to France and of animosity to Britain ; the seeds 
were planted in war, and their growth was not checked in 
peace. Britam continued to wear the aspect of an antago- 
nist, keeping her troops upon the United States territory 
until her demands were satisfied, while on the other side 
of the sea she laid one restraint after another upon com- 
merce, as if she would have kept the Americans at a 
distance from her shores. France, on the contrary, was 
still the friend of the rising nation, and not only as its 
patron, but as its follower. The same year that Washing- 
ton entered the presidency, the French revolution began. 
27 



314 PART III. 1763-1797. 

Its cnrly movoments, profesi^odly inspirorl by thoso that 
hud taken phicc in America, kindled all the sympathies of 
American hearts. Hitherto, the bond between them and 
the Frencli was one of gratitude and of dependence ; now 
it was one of sympathy and of ecpiality. 

But we are not to ima":ine our fathers to have 

Pintles P 

there- harmonized upon these points any more than upon 
"'^°' the others that have been n<jticed. The nation was 
hy no means unanimous against Great Britain, by no means 
unanimous for France. Deep, indeed, but still in action, 
were the sentiments of former times wlien France was the 
foe, and Britain the mother-land. To these a new impulse 
was given by the early excesses of the revolution. With 
their ideas of law and order, the Americans could not go 
along with the French, rioters from the first, and soon 
destroyers and murderers, rather than freemen. Many 
paused, and turning with distrust from the scenes of which 
France was the unhappy theatre, looked ■\^^th kinder emo- 
tions towards the sedater and the wiser Britain. It would 
be too much to say that this led to a British party ; but it 
did lead to a neutral one, while, on the other hand, a 
French party, applauding the license as well as the liberty 
of the revolution, clapped their hands the more enthusiasti- 
cally as the spectacle became wilder and bloodier. This 
party was the republican ; its more impetuous members 
being the democratic republicans. Their opponents were 
the federalists. The new dissensions came just in time to 
keep up the division between the two. IMiM-e federalist and 
republican questions might have waned ; they were already 
less glowing than they had been. They were revived by 
the strife of the French with the anti-French }>arty. 

Few had spoken of doing more than looking on at the 
events in Europe. Yet there were some so excited, so 
mjiddened, as to be ready for any extremities, especially 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 315 

Wasiiin?- when the France whom they worshipped declared 
ton pvo- war against the Britain whom they abhorred. More 

claims t ' -, -, ^ i . . , 

neutral- cUvided than ever, the nation was again close upon 
^*>'- the breakers, when Washington — never greater, 

never wiser — issued his proclamation of neutrality, mak- 
ing it known " that the duty and interest of the United 
States require that they should with sincerity and good faith 
adopt and pursue a conduct friendly and impartial towards 
the belHgerent powers," (April 22, 1793.) It is a memo- 
rable act in our history. 

Point Its purpose is not always rightly estimated. 

proposed. Look at the nation tasked to its utmost, one may 
almost say, to subdue a few Indian tribes, obliged to pay 
tribute to the Algerines, unable to keep the Spaniards to 
their obligations, and we shall not behold a power that could 
enter safely into European wars. If such a thing were 
attempted, it would be at the hazard of the independence 
that had been achieved. There were two risks ; one aris- 
ing from the certainty that the United States must be a 
subordinate ally in any war to which it became a party ; 
and the other, — a still graver one, — that the passions 
aroused by a foreign would find no vent but in a civil war. 
It was, as he said, " to keep the United States free," that 
Washington proclaimed neutrality. 

Mission The system was soon put to trial. France, hav- 
of Gcuet. jj-jg i)fiptized herself a republic in the blood of her 
king, Louis XVI., sent a new minister to the United States 
in the person of citizen Genet. An enthusiastic represen- 
tative of his nation, Genet excited a fresh enthusiasm in 
the French party of America. Feasted at Charleston, 
where he landed, (April, 1793,) and at all the principal 
places on the route northward, he was led to imagine the 
entire country at his feet, or at those of the French repub- 
lic. He began at Charleston to send out privateers, and to 



316 PAKT TIT. 17r,r,-T797. 

order that their prizes should he tried and condemned by 
the French consuls in the United States. It was a part of 
the treaty of commerce between the two nations,-that,lhe 
privateers and i)rizes of th(^ Fi-eneh should be admitted to 
the American jjorts. l>ut Genet was soon to be clieckcd. 
lie iiad not merely a divided people to deal with", but a 
government ; and although the government its(df had its 
divisions, it was so far accordant as to opj)Ose the ambassa- 
dor, to whom, on his arrival at Philadelphia, it stood ready 
to declare that whatever the treaty provided for, it did not 
provide for the eonnnission of privateers or the condem- 
nation of prizes within American limits. This is not the 
place to describe the proceedings of so wild a personage 
as Genet. He did battle for his privateers and his 
courts ; appealed from the executive to Congress and 
the people ; and pursued so extreme a course as to set his 
supporters and his opponents bitterly at variance. The 
French party now went openly for war against England. 
" Marat, Robespierre, Brissot, and the Mountain," says Vice 
President Adams, " were the constant themes of panegyric 
and the daily toasts at table. . . . Washington's house 
was surrounded by an innumerable nudtitude from day to 
day, huzzaing, demanding war against Englr.nd, cursing 
Washington, and crying, ' Success to the French patriots 
and virtuous republicans.' Frederic A. Muhlenberg, the 
speaker of the House of Representatives, toasted publicly, 
*The Mountain : may it be a pyramid that shall reach the 
skies.' " " I had rather be in my gra\'e," exclaimed AVash- 
ington one day in great excitement, " than in my present 
situation." He was equal, however, and more than equal, 
to his dut} and, supported by his cabinet, he sent to request 
the reca.i of Gen(4, (August.) As the party by which 
Genet had been commissioned had sunk to ruin, their suc- 
cessors readily appointed a minister of their own — citizen 
Fauchet. 



Great 
Briuiiii 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 317 

But the troubles of the time were too compli- 
cated to be reached by a mere change of ministers. 
France Fraucc had pronounced against the neutrality of 
invade America, — not, indeed, by direct menace or vio- 
nc'trii-" lence, but by ordering that neutral vessels, contain- 
'^^- ing goods belonging to her enemies, should be cap- 

tured, (May 1, 1793.) An embargo was then laid upon 
the shipping at Bordeaux. Both these measures were 
decided violations of the treaty with America. The most 
that France did, however, was as nothing compared with 
the extremes to which her chief enemy. Great Britain, 
resorted. France had ordered that the goods of an enemy 
were Uable to capture. Great Britain now ordered that 
the goods of a neutral power, if consisting of provisions 
for the enemy, were to be captured or bought up, unless 
shipped to a friendly port, (June.) This was followed 
by an order that all vessels laden with the produce of a 
French colony, or with supplies for the same, were law- 
ful prizes, (November;) a decree so arbitrary that it was 
soon modified by the nation that issued it, (January, 1794.) 
Worse than all, Great Britain claimed the right to impress 
into her service every seaman of British birth, wherever 
he might be found; so that the ships of the United States 
would'' be stopped, searched, and stripped of their crews, 
at the pleasure of the British cruisers. It often hap- 
pened that American sailors, as well as British, were the 
victims of this impressment. A thrill of indignation and 
of defiance against such proceedings ran through the 
Americans. They would have been less than freemen, 
less, even, than men, to have borne with such injuries in 

silence. 

Threat- The coursc of Great Britain is easily explained, 
tvuh"'"' Its rulers regarded the United States merely as a 
^'""^^ commercial people who were contributing to the 

Britain. 

27* 



318 TAUT III. 1703-1797. 

rcsoiiroos of tlio enemy. Did they look upon (he nation 
in any })oHtieal hght, they lelt sure — thus ^^'a^hin«I:ton 
was inlbnned from London — "that there was a party so 
decidedly in the British sentiment that bearing and forbear- 
ing Avould be carried to any length." But they were mis- 
taken. The very party most opposed to France were 
earnest in sustaining the necessity of preparations Ibr uar, 
defensive, indeed, but still war with Great Britain. A 
temporary embargo nj)on the Ameriean ports was voted by 
Congress, for the })urposg of suspending commercial inter- 
course, (March, 1704.) Tiie House of Representatives 
passed an act prohibiting all trade with Great Britain aM<l 
her colonies, until she redressed the wrongs which she had 
perpetrated; the act would have passed the Senate like- 
wise, but for the casting vote of the vice president, (April.) 
The partisans of the French were all alive for iiiither 
action ; their opponents were hardly prepared to resist it. 
One step on the i)art of the executive, one hint that Wash- 
ington, the still trusted though still slandered magistrate, 
was in favor of arming, and the nation would have armed. 
"With Great Britain, in all her might, foi- a foe, and with 
France, in all her blood-red despotism, for an ally, what 
would have been the war ! 

Mission One of Washington's secretaries, Jefferson, had 
of Jay. lately resigned his post, leaving his personal as well 
as political opponent, Hamilton, the head of the cabiiu.'t. 
To him, as the most eminent member of the administration, 
the president would have confided the special mission which 
it was proposed to send to Great Britain. But Hamilton, 
as an extreme federalist, was too unacceptable to the great 
body of Congress and of the nation to be emj)loyed uj)on a 
serWce which of itself was an object of general distrust and 
aversion. AVashington therefore .selected Chief Justice Jay, 
(April, 1794.) It Wiis a fitting choice, liu* more so than 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 310 

that of Hamilton. The sc-crfitary would have been the rep- 
resentative, not of the nation alone, but of the party wljich 
aeknovvledg(id him as its leader ; he was always a party 
man, wheth(ir in olliee or out of ojliee. But the chief jus- 
tice, though a federalist, .was no partisan. Amongst all the . 
promincjnt figures of the time, Jay's is almost, perhaps alto- 
g(ither, the only one that stands close to Washington's, aloof 
from the tarnishes and the collisions of opposing parties. 
No other man was so fit to join with Washington in rescu- 
ing the nation from. its present perils. 

iiif, Accordingly, Jay proceeded to England, and, 

treaty, after some months of anxious diplomacy, obtained a 
treaty, (November.) It was not much to obtain. The 
United States agreeing to indemnify their British creditors. 
Great Britain consented to sunender the posts which she 
had so long held in the west.* She also promised indem- 
nity to the sufferers from her system of search and of cap- 
ture ; yet the system itself, though partially modified, was by 
no means renounced. A few concessions to the claims of 
American commerce were also made ; but the rigid policy 
of Jjritain, especially in relation to her colonial trade, was 
strongly maintained. In short, the treaty did not acknowl- 
edge the rights of the Americans as neutrals, or their privi- 
leges as traders ; both matters of the highest importance to 
tlieir commercial interests. At the same time, the earlier 
points of controversy were determined, and from the later 
ones the sting was taken away, at least in some degree. So 
Jay thought, so Washington, though neither considered the 
treaty decidedly satisfactory. It was better, at any ]-ate, 
they reasoned, than war. Thus, too, reasoned th<j Senate, 
who, convened in special session, advised the ratification of 
the treaty, (June, 170o.) 

* The surrender to take effect June 1, 1796. 



320 TAltT III. 17(j:M797. 

Opposi- ^*^t thu.-«, ho\v(;vor, tlie nation. If tlio necessity 

tii.M. Qp ^|j,. treaty, even as it stood, needed to Vn-. ])roved, 
tlie proof was the general insanity uliieli it jJi-oNokcd. 
IMectiiiu^s were held everj'- where ; luirangiies were made, 
resohilions passed; copies of the treaty were destroyed; Jay 
was hunicd in eiri;i:y. The French and the American Hags 
waved to;2;ether over these scenes; wiiih' the British ensign 
was dra^rged througli tlie dirt and burned before the doors 
of the British representatives. 

Batifica- -^^^ ^^'i"^? '"^^^ morc, if intended to intimidate gov- 
tiuu. ernment, had a precisely contrary eifect. " I have 
never," wrote "Washington, " since I have been in the ad- 
ministration of the government, seen a crisis which is preg- 
nant with more interesting events, nor one from which 
more is to be apprehended." '" Did the treaty with Great 
Britain," he asked afterwards, '* surrender any right of 
which the United States had been in possession ? Did it 
make any chanjrc or alteration in the law of nations, under 
wliieh Great Britain had acted in defiance of jill th(^ powers 
of Europe? If none of these, why all this farrago?" The 
French party were of course the active leaders in all dis- 
turbances. Their antagonists, certainly not a British party 
now, ke}>t themselves in the background at first, but pres- 
ently rallied, not as a British, or even as an anti-French, so 
much as an American party, to the support of tln^ presi- 
dent, assuring him and his government of the unabated con- 
fidence of the nation. At the same time, Jefferson's succes- 
sor, Kandol])h, being ^suspected of intrigue with the French 
minister, resigned his office, and in the reaction thus excited 
against the influence and the partisanship of France, the 
cabinet advised the ratification of the British treaty. It 
was done, (August.) 

Coiitinui'd Opi)osition continued. The Virginian legisla- 
oi.poBitiou. ^ure, approving the stand of their senators against 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 321 

the treaty, refused to pass a vote of undiminished confidence 
in the president. If Virginia could thus turn away from 
the son to whom she had hitherto cUmg with all a mother's 
pride, the tone in other states may be conceived to have 
been even more expressive of disapprobation. But Vir- 
ginia was strongly republican and strongly French, conse- 
quently strongly anti-British. So far did the legislature go 
in its wrath, as to propose an amendment of the Constitu- 
tion, to the effect of requiring the assent of the House of 
Representatives before a treaty could be ratified, (Novem- 
ber.) The example of Virginia was imitated even in Con- 
gress, where the phrase of "' undiminished confidence " was 
stricken from an address of the house to the president, 
(December.) As the session progressed, a fierce struggle 
arose with respect to the bills for carrymg out the British 
treaty. The opponents of the treaty made it their first 
effort to obtain the papers relating to the transaction, on the 
plea that it lay with the House to consent or to refuse to ex- 
ecute the provisions of the treaty. A three Aveeks' debate . 
terminated in a call upon the president for the specified 
documents. He and his cabinet being alike of opinion that 
the House had transgressed its powers, the call was refused. 
The House took the denial with a better grace than might 
have been anticipated ; the leaders of the opposition now 
throwing their whole weight upon the point of defeating the 
bills on which the execution of the treaty depended. Nor 
w^as it until after a fortnight's debate, in which Fisher 
Ames distinguished himself above all his colleagues in 
defending the treaty, that a vote, by a bare majority, deter- 
mined that the House would proceed to its duty, (March, 
April, 1796.) By this time the frenzy out of doors had 
died away. 

The roint Thus terminated tlie great event of Washington's 
gaiued. administriition. Its course, so far as he was con- 



822 PART III. 1763-1797. 

cerned, followed precisely the principles with which he had 
entered office. In face of the parties that divided the 
country, in face of their feelings and their relations to Great 
Britain and France, Washington saw but one alternative — 
peace or war. And not peace or war with the stranger 
alone, but between citizen and citizen. Enough has been 
already said on the interests and the dangers involved in 
the decision. The proclamation of neutrality was the first 
decisive step, the treaty with Great Britain was the second, 
and, for the present, the last. The point thus gained may 
be called the starting point of the infant nation in its foreign 
relations. But hear Washington himself : "My ardent de- 
sire is, and my aim has been, to keep the United States 
free from political connections with every other country, to 
.see them independent of all and under the influence of none. 
In a word, I want an American character, that the powers 
of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves, and not 
for others. This, in my judgment, is the only way to be 
respected abroad and happy at home ; and not, by becoming 
the partisans of Great Britain or France, create dissensions, 
disturb the public tranquillity, and destroy, perhaps for- 
ever, the cement which binds the Union." 
Continued Things wcrc far, however, from going smoothly, 
embarrass- What Washuigton wrotc a few months before was 
from ^ still true : " This government, in relation to France 
abroad, j^jjd England, may be compared to a ship between 
the rocks of Scylla and Charybdis." The treaty being rat- 
ified, Charybdis was avoided. But Scylla rose the more 
frowningly. If the French party of the United States, if 
the minister of the United States to France, James Mon- 
roe, were indignant at the British treaty, it Avas but natural 
that France should be the same. The French government 
announced to Mr. Monroe that they considered their alli- 
ance with the United States to be at an end, (February, 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 323 

1796.) The chief reason was the treaty with Great 
Britain ; but the list of grievances, then and afterwards 
tilled out, comprehended all the measures by which Ameri- 
can neutrality had been sustained. To prove that they 
were in earnest, the authorities of France, in addition to 
their previous orders of capture and embargo, decreed 
that neutral vessels were to be treated exactly as they were 
treated by the British ; that is, stopped, searched, and 
seized upon the seas, (July.) This was subsequently made 
known to the United States by a communication from the 
French envoy, Adet, (October,) who improved the oppor- 
tunity by appealing to the people to take part with France 
and against Great Britain, (November.) To restore mat- 
ters, as far as possible, to a better position, Washington had 
sent out Charles C. Pinckney as minister to France, in the 
place of Monroe, (September.) But the clouds that had 
been dissipated on the side of Great Britain were more 
than replaced by the ominous signs in the direction of 
France. 

An.i at It was still worsc at home. The parties — north- 
home. gj.j^ ^J^^[ southern, federalist and republican, anti- 
French and French — that racked the nation were never 
so much agitated. " Until within the last year or two,'* 
wrote Washington, " I had no idea that parties would, 
or even could, go to the length I have been ^vitness to." 
Congress was a continual battle ground. The federal 
party, falling into the minority in the House, and in danger 
of losing their majority in the Senate, fought, it may be 
literally said, on one side ; their opponents, the republicans, 
animated with the hope of the superiority, being equally 
.pugnacious on the other. Newspapers, especially those 
published at Philadelphia, carried the hostile notes from 
Congress to the nation, and echoed them back to Congress. 
It is difficult, without having room for extracts, to convey 



321 r^UiT 111. 17(>3-1797. 

any idi-a of tlic virulence of political writing at the time. 
Statesmanship disappears in pm-tisanship, the love of coun- 
try in the hatred of countrymen. All tliis, while it demon- 
strated the wisdom of the administration or of its head, 
rendered the course of the administration doubtful and 
im})erilled. In i'act, botli the administration and its head 
were objects of the liercest assault. 

Washington wrote with natural indifj^nation of 

At)U80 of «= " 

WiLshing- the abuse which he, " no party man," ii^ he truly 
called himself, had received, '' and that, too, in such 
exaggerated and indecent terms as could scarcely be applied 
to a Nero, a notorious defaulter, or even to a connnon pick- 
pocket." It was amidst these outrages that Washington 
sent forth his Farewell Address to the people of the United 
States, (September 17, 170G.) Soon afterwards, Congi'ess 
came together, and showed that many of its members were 
violent against the retiring president. On the proposal of 
an address .of grateful acknowledgments from the House 
of Representatives, a man from Washington's own state, 
William B. Giles, of Virginia, took exception to the more 
expressive passages, saying, " If I stand alone in the opin- 
ion, I will dechu'e that I am not convinced that the admin- 
istration of the government for these six years has been 
wise and firm. I do not regret the president's retiruig 
from ortice." Giles was not alone. The same attitude was 
taken by a considerable nuniber, and amongst them Andrew 
Jackson, of Tennessee, (December.) "• Although he is 
soon to become a private citizen," wrote AVashington of 
liimself, (January, 1797,) "his opinions ai-e to be knocked 
down, and his cliaracter reduced as low as they are capable 
of sinking it." Two months hiter, in the last Iiours of his 
administration, he said, " To the wearied traveller, who sees 
a resting place, and is bending his body to lean thereon, I 
now compai-e myself; but to be sulfered to do this in peace, 



WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 325 

is too much to be endured by some." If Wasliington could 
thus excite animosity and wrong, what must it have been 
with ordinary men ? The country seemed unwilling to be 
pacified, unwilling to be saved. 

Washington retired. He had done even greater 
ment of things at the head of the government than he had 
Washing- ^one at the head of the army. But it was beyond 
his power to change the character of the nation. 
He left it as he found it — divided and impassioned. Yet 
he left it as he had not found it — with a Constitution in 
operation, with principles and with laws in action — on 
the road to increase and to maturity. " I can never be- 
lieve," were almost his last words as president, " that Prov- 
idence, which has guided us so long, and through such a 
labyrinth, will withdraw its protection at this crisis." The 
day after writing this, he saw his successor, John Adams, 
inaugurated, (March 4, 1797.) 

One who had hailed the administration at its 

Lafayette. 

beginning was not amongst those to behold its 
close. Lafayette was a prisoner at Olmiitz, under the 
power of Austria. But he was not forgotten. It is refresh- 
ing amidst the angry chaos of foreign controversies and of 
domestic struggles, to encounter Washington, not as the 
president, but as the American, writing his " private letter," 
as he termed it, to the Emperor of Germany, " to recom- 
mend Lafayette to the mediation of humanity," and " to 
entreat that he may be permitted to come to this country," 
(May, 1796.) The effect of the appeal is not known ; but 
Lafayette was liberated not long afterwards. 
28 



PART IV. 



THE GROWING NATION. 



1797-1850. 



(327) 



CHAPTER I. 

Foreign Aggressions. 

Party aa- ^^^ Contrast between the administration of 
ministra- Washington and the administrations of his succes- 
sors is as wide as that between a nation and a 
party. He was the head of the nation ; they have been 
the heads of parties, as well as of the nation. First comes 
John Adams, the federalist, (1797;) then Thomas Jefferson, 
the republican, (1801 ;) then James Madison, likewise the 
republican, (1809.) Not one of these chief magistrates, it 
is true, was a mere partisan. Adams, the early champion 
of independence, was faithful to his principles of national- 
ity ; but he found himself dependent, not on the nation, but 
on a party, for support, and shaped his administration, as 
of necessity, by party lines. Not confining himself so 
strictly to these as the more ardent federalists demanded, 
they turned against him, and as the nation would not rally 
to his defence, he lost his reelection. Jefferson, vice presi- 
dent under Adams, was much more of a party leader. He 
had generous theories, indeed, but his practices- did not 
always conform to them ; and though he began his admin- 
istration by declaring that " we are all republicans, all 
federalists," he never proved himself a federalist, nor did 
the federalists become republicans. Madison was a much 
less enthusiastic politician than his predecessors. He bowed 
to the signs of the times, and became not so much a party 
leader as a party follower. The point with all the three 
28 * (329) 



330 PART IV. 1797-ia50. 

was, that thoy woro chiefs of but a part of tlio nation, not 
of the whole. 

In tills they wen^ in harmony with those over 

Tftrties 

amongst wliom they were called to rule. Ihe peo})le were 
the peo divided into ])arties. So they had been under 

plo. '■ '' 

Washington ; but while he conducted affairs, there 
was at least one in power to whom patriotic men could look 
up witliout party feelings. With his successors, the ciLse 
was different ; and though there might be a number in one 
j)lace, or a number in another, whose sympathies were with 
the nation, rather than with any party, there wjis no one to 
be their representative or their example. The large major- 
ity, more deeply interested in political affairs than most 
men of the present day, broke up into divisions, full of 
earnestness for their own doctrines, full of wrath against 
all besides. 
„ ,. The natural consequences followed. Even in 

Parties ^ 

in reia- relation to the foreign aggressions — which we shall 
fireigu '^^^^ he tracing — parties will be found to have 
aggrcs- existed in all their force. If one nation dealt a 

sions. 1 1 • T 

blow against the country, it was sure to be excused 
by one party ; if another did the same, there was another 
party to explain away the wrong. On the other hand, 
there were always some to censure every act of one power, 
and others to denounce every measure of another power. 
So strong did these feelings become, that the subjects which 
called them forth took precedence of all others in the con- 
troversies of the time. Perhaps it was natural for the 
young nation to be more excited by the vast interests of its 
elders, than by its own comparatively petty concerns. At 
any rate, it was what foreign powers were doing, rather 
than what the United States had to do, which formed the 
sta]>l(; of political action for the fifteen years (1797-1812) 
following the retirement of Washington. 



FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 331 

Missions Chief amongst the combatants in Europe, and 
to France, ^jjg aggressors against America, were Great Britain 
and France. For the moment, the relations with France 
occupied the foreground. Charles C. Pinckney, accredited 
by Washington to negotiate with the French government, 
was refused an audience at Paris ; and not only that, but 
was ordered to depart the French territory, (December, 
1796 — February, 1797.) Notwithstanding this, notM^ith- 
standing the rapidly following decrees against American 
ships and American crews. President Adams sent out a 
new mission, consisting of Pinckney, John Marshall, and 
Eibridge Gerry, with moderate instructions, which, how- 
ever, availed nothing. Pinckney and Marshall, incensed 
by the intrigue as well as the insolence of which they were 
the objects, (October, 1797 — April, 1798,) shook off the 
dust of France from their feet, being followed in a few 
months by Gerry, who had undertaken to do alone what 
he had not been able to do with his colleagues. 

Before the Avithdrawal of Pinckney and Mar- 
of the '^ shall, the intelligence of their treatment had thrown 
United ^j^g United States into a o-reat excitement. The 

states. . ^ 

repubhcans taunted their opponents with the failure 
which they said they had predicted for the French missions. 
All the more bitter were the federalists, who inveighed 
against the venality of the French government, some even 
going so far as to call for a declaration of war. The presi- 
dent leaned to the side of his party. He had no mind to 
declare war, but he recommended Congress to put the 
country in a state of defence, (March, 1798.) The recom- 
mendation was at once opposed by the republican leaders. 
According to Vice President Jefferson, indeed, the president 
was aiming at a dissolution of the Union or at the establish- 
ment of a monarchical government. But the federalists 
upheld the president, and carried a series of measures pro- 



332 TAUT IV. I707-I80O. 

vidiiig for tho ors.iiii/atiou of a provisional armVi •'^'^ woW 
as of a naval (l('|»ailin<iit, l>y wliicli the exisliiiij: navy niJL'lit 
be niori' ctlicicntly nianaujt d, (May.) Onh-rs were issurd, 
directing; \hv national ships to seize all armed vessels 
cnjjja^ed in hostile aets agiunst American shipping ; while 
merehiuJtmen were authorized to arm themselves, luid eajj- 
ture their assailants upon the seas. But to prevent hostili- 
ties, as far as possible, eommereial intercourse with France 
and her colonies was formally prohibited, (June.) Soon 
after, Washington was appointed to the command of the 
pi-ovisional army, (duly.) The United States were I'airly 
in arms. 

War followed at sea. No declaiation was inailc ; 

War. 

the most that was done being to proclaim tiic ti-ra- 
ties with France void, and then to authorize the president 
to send out national and to connnission private vessels lor 
the ])urpose of capturing any armed shij)s ot' the French, 
whether participating or not in hostilities, (July.) The 
seas were at once overrun with American ships, by which 
the French privateers were taken or driven irom tlu' coast. 
No actual engagement between national vessels, howev^'r, 
occurred, until the begimiing of the following year, when 
Commander Truxtun, in the Constellation, forced the French 
frigate LTnsurgente to strike, (February, 1799.) Hostili- 
ties were continued chieHy by privateers, the profits to 
whose owners were the principal results of the war. Still 
it pleased the party by whom it was favored. '' A Ldorious 
and trium])hant war it was ! " exclaimed Adams, in after 
years. " The proud pavilion of France wjis humiliated." 
_, . But aG:ainst the deeds of battle must be set the 

upon the mcasures of government. These alone show the 

nation. , . i • rri • i i 

stram njion the nation. Jo ])rovide ways and means, 
stamp duties and taxes on houses and slaves were voted, 
besides the loans that were procured. To kee[> down parly 



Oj)|)<)sili<)ii, Jilit'ii jukI sedition nets, ;is i\u'y were ('.'illcd, wen; 
passed. Tlie first Mutliori/ed (lie presideiil, 1<» l);inisli jill 
aliens Kusj)<;(!l(!d of (-onspinicy Ji}.';ainst lli<5 IJniled Sl;U«'s. 
This was inon; oC a ])siity inatMJi;uvrc than a[)j)(;ars on tlici. 
Caci; ol' it ; inasrnu(;ii as many of tli<; most ai-(l(^nt spirits of 
the republicans, especially the democnitic n;publicans, vvitre 
aliens. The Bcdition act denounced fine and imprisomnent 
uj)on all c()ns{)iracies, and (jven ail pid)lications, " with 
intiMit to <',xcite any unlawful combination ibr op|)osiiig or 
resisting any law of th<; United Slat(;s, or any lawful act 
of the |>resid<Mit." Both th<!S(; acts, liow(;v(;r, w(;r(; to b(i 
but t(;mpor;uy.* Jt was at midsummer that party sj)irlt 
rose so hij^li as to demand and to enact these ur<^ent laws, 
(duni; — July, 171)«.) The alien act was nev(!r [)ut in 
operation. But the sedition act was aj^ain and a;^ain 
('nfor(!(id, and almost, if not alUy^vihoA' invariably, upon 
pai'ty j:r;rounds. It may safely be said that the nation was 
straining itself too far. 

Nuiiifi- ^() thought the party opposin}^ the administration 

cati(.ii. r^j^(j ^^^^, y^^^P^ Strongest in the south and in the 
W(;st, the republican headers threw down the gaimthit to 
their oj)))on(;nts, nay, ev(;n to their rulers. The legislatiii-e 
of Kentucky, in resolutions drawn up for that body by no 
less a person than Vice PrelRent Jefferson, declared the 
ali(!n and s(idition laws " not law, but altogether void and 
of no foi-C(j," (November, 1708.) The not(; thus sounded 
was taken up in the Vii-ginia legislature, whose resolutions, 
draught(Hl by JanKS Madison, d<;clared the obnoxious laws 
" |)alpa,]>l<; and alarming infractions of the Constitution," 
(December.) ]5oth s(;ts of resolutions, as they came from 
the hands of th(;ir framers, were stronger still. Jefferson 



* The alien to be in force for two years, the sedition until March 4, 
1801, the end of Adams's adniinistration. 



3;J1 TAUT IV. 17()7-lfi')0. 

had writtrn, " Wlicic j)()\vcr> an* assmnnl wliicli Inn c not 
l)r<-n (l»'l«^Mtc(l, a niillilicarKiii of tli<- ad i> tlir i-ii:lit rrrn- 
(dy, and <'V(_'ry state lias a natural ri;j^lit, in ca-^rs not within 
•till' (•(»ini)a('t, [th«^ Constitution,] to nullify of tln-ir own 
authority all a-suniptions of power hy others within their 
limits." Madison, after stating '' that in ease of a dcdiher- 
ate, palj)al)le, and •lau'xerous exereisc of other ])owers not" 
granted hy the e()in])aet, tli(? states, who are the pailies 
thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to inter- 
pose for correcting the progress of tlie evil, and for main- 
taining within their respective limits the authorities, rights, 
and liberties appertaining to them," had made his resolu- 
tions declare the acts in question '' null, void, and of no 
ibrce or effect." liut it was an early day for nullification ; 
and neither Kentucky nor Virginia went the length pre- 
scribed for them. They went far enough, as has been seen, 
to excite very general opposition from their si<ter states, 
especially those of the centre and the north, when^ legisla- 
ture after legislature came out with strong and denuncia- 
toiy denials of the right of any state to sit in judgment upon 
the national government. 
, ,. Things were in this seethina; state, the factions on 

Another ^ ... 

niisHion to both sidcs being at the height of their ])assions, 

'^"*^*'' when the president iftmiiuUed a minister to Fi-ance 
in the person of William Van Murray, to wliom he after- 
wards joined Oliver Ellsworth, then chief justice, and Wil- 
liam R. Davie, as colleagues, (February, 171)9.) The 
reason assigned for a fresh attempt at negotiation was the 
assurance that had been received through Van Murray, 
then minister at the Hague, of the willingness of the French 
government to treat with a new mission. The instructions 
subsequently drawn up for the tlire<i envoys directed them 
to pursue a more decided course than had been enjoined 
iip(jn their predecessors; they w(M-e to insist uj)on redress 



FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 335 

for the decrees and the captures of the French ; yet, unless 
received on their arrival at Paris, they were not to linger, 
but to demand their passports and abandon the mission. 
In all this, one finds it difficult to detect any thing unworthy 
of the nation. But the din upon the nomination of the em- 
bassy was tremendous. All the more active ftidcralists, 
conspicuous amongst whom were the principal members of 
the cabinet, Timothy Pickering and Oliver Wolcott, cried 
out against the treachery of the president. It was treach- 
ery against their j)arty rather than against their country, 
even in their own eyes ; but they were blinded by the })olit- 
ical animosity that dazzled and bewildered almost all 
around them. The president liimself was suspected of urg- 
ing the mission, in some degree, out of spite against the fed- 
eral party, by whom, or by whose extreme members, he 
considered himself badly used. " The British faction," he 
wrote afterwards, " was determined to have a war with 
France, and Alexander Hamilton at the head of the army, 
and then president of the United States. Peace with 
France was therefore treason." "This transaction," he 
exclaimed in relation to the appointment of a new mission, 
'" must be transmitted to posterity as the most disinterested, 
prudent, and successful conduct in my whole life ! " 
Death of ^* ^^^® closc of the year — it was also the close 
Washing- of the ccntury which he adorned — Washington 
died, (December 14, 1799.) His retirement, to 
which he had looked forward so longingly, had been dis- 
turbed. He had been greatly occupied with the organiza- 
tion of the provisional army, of which he had been appointed 
chief — the last of his many services to his country. He 
had been still more harassed by the party passions of the 
time ; himself inclined to the support of federalist prin- 
ciples, he had been to some degree drawn into the whirl of 
political movements. Perhaps it was not too soon for his 



33G TAUT IV. 17'.)7-18,j(). 

peace or for liis fame tliat he was taken away. Beside his 
gi'jive his countryiiii'M stood united i'or an instant ; then 
returned to tlieir divi>i<ins and tlieir strifes. His inenKuy 
continued to ph'ad, and not unavuiHngly, lor love of country 
and of countrymen. 

_. Tiic envoys to France reached their destination 

French in the beginning of the following year, (l^SOU.) 
They found Na})oleon lionaparte first consul. AVith 
his government, after some difficulty, they concluded a con- 
vention, providing in part for mutual redress, but leaving 
many of the questions between the two nations foj- future 
settlement, (October.) When brought before th(^ Senate 
of the United States, the convention was modified by can- 
celling the provision for additional negotiations. This was 
assented to m France, on condition that the claims for 
indemnities on either side should be abandoned. The 
effect was soon seen in claims for French s])oliations pre- 
sented to the government of the United States. But the 
treaty sufficed to restore peace. 

Difflcui- France was not the only foreign power with 
ties with wliich there had been difficulties. Spain, aggrieved, 
"^ '''""■ as she professed herself to be, by the same Britisli 
treaty that had offended France, regarded the United States 
not only as an unim})ortant but as an untrustworthy ally. 
The former troubles in connection with the Florida terri- 
tory continued, especially upon the subject of a boundary 
between it and the United States. New troubles, too, 
arose. Vague projects to get possession of the INIississipjii 
valley, by dint of intrigue amongst the western settlei-s, 
were ascribed, and not Avithout reason, to the Spaniards. 
Thus, on both sides there were suspicions, on both con- 
tentions. 

The country at which Spain Ji|)peared to be aiming was 
rapidly organized by the United Slates. The Mississippi 



FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 337 

Missis • • Terrltoiy was formed, including at first the lower 
Territory: part of the present Alabama and Mississippi, 
under^de- (1798.) This Organization excited a debate con- 
bate, cerning slavery, which, as the organizing act pro- 
vided, was not to be prohibited in the territory. Here was 
no such plea as had existed in the case of the Territory 
South of the Ohio. No cession from a state, no conditions 
laid any restraint upon Congress. Yet but twelve votes 
were given in favor of an amendment proposed by George 
Thacher, of Massachusetts, prohibiting the introduction of 
slavery into the territory. The most that Congress would 
agree to, was to forbid the importation of slaves from 
abroad; a concession^ inasmuch as the slave trade, it will 
be remembered, was still allowed by the Constitution. So, 
for the second time, and this time without its being required 
by terms with any state,* the decision of the national gov- 
ernment was given in favor of slavery. Let it be borne in 
mind, when we come to the controversies of later years. 

But Congress took the other side, likewise. The 

Territory ■ n -kt 

of Indiana: wcstcrn portion of the North-west Territory soon 
slavery needed to be set off as the Territory of Indiana, 

again. •/ ' 

embracing the present Indiana, Illinois, and JMichi- 
gan, (1800.) There slavery was already prohibited. But 
tliis went against the interests of the inhabitants, as they 
thought, and they petitioned Congress, within three and 
again within seven years after the organization of the terri- 
tory, to be allowed to introduce slaves amongst them. Once 
a committee of Congress reported adversely ; but twice a 
repo- 'as made in favor of the petition. Reports and 

' the territory at this time organized was claimed by the 
United States as a portion of the old Florida domain. Georgia likewise 
claimed it as b or:,; and when she sm-rendered what was allowed to be 
hers, that • , the upper part of the present Alabama and Mississippi, she 
made it a condition that slavery should not be prohibited, (1802.) 

29 



338 TAUT IV. 1797-1^30. 

petitions, howcvrr, Avcrc :»lil<<' fruitless. Conjnv^s would 
not authorize slavery when* it iiad Ixm-u proliibitrd. 
Will- with Jeflerson's administration openrd witli tVoli air- 
Tripuii. gressions ironi al>r«>ad. Tlie 15ey of Tripoli — a 
treaty with whom liad been purchased under Washington's 
administration — now declared war, undoubtedly ibr the . 
purpose of exacting larger tribute, (IHOl.) The war con- 
tinued for four yeai's, with many gallant actions on the part 
of the American navy, but without any important results. 
Peace was made, with an exchange of prisoners, and, as the 
American prisoners were more numerous, with a ransom to 
the Tripolitan government, (1805.) 

Much nearer home were the continued dilficulties 

Acquisi- 

tionof with Spain. The Si)anish transfer to r ranee ot 
Loui-iana. L^^^j^j.^j^j^ — ^\^^ y.^^j .,jj J undefined region on the 

west of the Mississippi — aggravated the inflamed relations 
between Spain and the United States, (IHOO.) It was 
while the province was still held by the Spanish authorities, 
that the Americans were excluded from New Orleans as a 
depot for the commerce of their western country, (1802.) 
Ai)prehensions were felt that the west itself was again in 
danger, and not merely from the designs of Spain, but still 
more from those of France. A proposal for seizing New 
Orleans was brought up in the United States Senate ; but 
it was determined to intrust the matter to the executive. 
The plan was to purchase that portion of Louisiana which 
included New Orleans, together, perhaps, with a part or the 
whole of the Floridas, then supposed to be included in the 
Spanish cession. But the envoys to France — Robert R. 
Livingston and James IMonroe — finding tlie French gov- 
ermuent disposed to part with the whole of their recent 
acquisition, decided to take it all for fifteen millions of dol- 
lars, one quarter of the sum to be paid to American sutler- 
ers by French spoliations, (April 30, 1803.) 



FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 339 

Spain protested against the transaction immedi- 
abroa/ atelj, and subsequently took up arms to maintain 
and at j^gj. boundaries, threatened, as she considered, by 

home. . -' 

the Americans both on the side of Florida and on 
that of Mexico. The United States would have ended the 
disputes about Florida by purchasing that province; but 
Spain refused to part with it, and the two nations continued 
on uncertain terms for many years. Far more alarming 
were the controversies excited by the acquisition of Louisi- 
ana within the United States themselves. The republican 
chief magistrate, with his theories of a hmited general gov- 
ernment, had made use of a power far beyond any claimed 
by the federalists for his predecessors. Jefferson himself 
allowed it to be "an act beyond the Constitution," and 
hinted at " an act of indemnity," that is, a constitutional 
amendment to authorize his proceedings. The Senate 
ratified the purchase, (October 20.) But loud and angry 
was the clamor of the opposition, although the opposition, 
had they been true to their professions, should have been 
the first to applaud a measure so much after their own sys- 
tem. The party bitterness of the time is almost incredible. 
Not content with the old divisions, men entered into new 
ones ; the dominant party, the republican, being divided 
and subdivided. Nor were partisans satisfied with speak- 
ing, writing, or acting against one another ; they shot down 
their antagonists in duels and murderous affrays. It was 
amidst these troubles abroad and at home, while Spain was 
excited, and the parties of the United States inflamed, that 
the acquisition of Louisiana was completed. 

The possession of the Mississippi to its mouth, 

involved'^ and the consequent security of the western terri- 

intheac- tory, Were the principal points insisted upon by 

tliose who supported the acquisition. With those 

who opposed it, the enlargement of territory and the viola- 



340 PART IV. 1707-ia50. 

tioii of the Constitution were the fprat arj^imonts. Neither 
party hiid much if any stress upon the point which we of 
the })rcsent (hiy can see to have been the chief one involved 
in tilt' wli<»l«' transaction. Tiiis was the extension of sla- 
very, not, as in the cases previously noticed, by the orjrani- 
zation of the national territory, but by the annexation of a 
foreign ri^gion already containing upwards of fifty thousand 
slaves, and open, of course, to iifty times as many in the 
])rogi'ess of years. Of what depended upon this we shall 
see more hereafter. 

The immense region thus ac([uired was (li\ided 

Orgjiniziv- . . /i ,/-» i \ rm i • i • i 

tioii of mto two portions, (1801.) liie southern, m which 
Txniisiana q]\ t|j(3 settlements of any imi)ortance were included, 

territurics. 

was called the Territory of Orleans. It compre- 
hended the present State of Louisiana, but Avith very indefi- 
nite boundaries on the west. North of this lay the District 
of Louisiana, embracing the present Arkansas and Mis- 
souri, with as much more as could be brought within its 
elastic limits on the north and west, its principal settlement 
being St. Louis. This district was made a part of the same 
jurisdiction with the Indiana Territory, from which, how- 
ever, it was soon detached, (1805.) At the same time, the 
provisions for the Territory of Orleans, complained of by 
some of the inhabitants, were rendered more liberal. The 
terms of the treaty concluding the purchase had been these : 
" The inhabitants of the ceded teiTitory shall be incorpo- 
rated in the Union of the L^nited States, and admitted as 
soon as possible, according to the })rinciples of the federal 
Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, 
and immunities of citizens of the United States ; and in the 
mean time shall be maintained and ])rotected in the free 
enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion which 
they profess." Treaties of this kind were not every-day 
occurrences with Napoleon. 



FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 341 

Other ter- ^^^^ ^^^^ State of Ohio WRS already admitted to 
ritoiiai the Union, (November 29, 1802.) New territo- 
orl'aniza- I'i^^ — Michigan (1805) and Illinois (1809) — 
tions. were subsequently formed from out of the Indiana 
Territory. The signs of expansion were written every 
where, but nowhere so strikingly as along the western 
plains. 

Burr's There they were such as to kindle projects of a 

projects, jjg^y empire. Aaron Burr, vice president during 
Jefferson's first term, but displaced in the second term by 
George Clinton, (1805,) — branded, too, with the recent 
murder of Alexander Hamilton in a duel, — was generally 
avoided amongst his old associates. Turning his face west- 
ward, he there drew into his net various men, some of posi- 
tion and some of obscurity, with whose aid he seems to have 
intended making himself master of the Mississippi valley, or 
of Mexico, one or both, (1806.) Whatever his schemes 
were, they miscarried. A handful only of followers were 
gathered round him on the banks of the Mississippi, a 
hundred miles or more above New Orleans, when he sur- 
rendered himself to the government of the Mississippi Ter- 
ritory, (January, 1807.) Some months afterwards he was 
brought to trial for high treason before Chief Justice Mar- 
shall, of the Supreme Court, with whom sat the district 
judge for Virginia ; the reason for trying Burr in that state 
being the fact that one of the places where he was charged 
with having organized a military expedition was within 
the Virginian limits. The trial, like every thing else in 
those days, was made a party question ; the administration 
and its supporters going strongly against Burr, while its 
opponents were disposed to take his part. He was acquit- 
ted for want of proof; and for the same reason he was 
again acquitted when tried for undertaking to invade the 
Spanish territories. 

29* 



312 TART IV. 1707-18.')0 

Frowning hi.di abovo all these domestic events 
tioTwith ^^^'*^ ^''^' ajrgressions ironi abroad. It' they sank in 
Great one direction, they seemed sure to rise the more 

Lrit.iiii. , . 1 . 1 T I n 

threatenmgly in another. It was now the turn oi 
Great Britain. That state, however, liad never ceased to 
make such use or abuse of its strength as it pleased — not 
even after the treaty under Washington's administration ; 
the treaty, as formerly mentioned, having left many matters 
of controversy undecided. The system of imi)ressment, for 
instance, though protested against by the United States, 
had never been renounced bj* Great Britain. On the con- 
trary, it had been extended even to the American navy, of 
which the vessels were once and again plundered of their 
seamen by British men-of-war. Another subject on which 
Great Britain set herself against the claims of the United 
States, was the neutral trade, of which the latter nation en- 
grossed a large and constantly increasing share during the 
European wars. After various attempts to discourage 
American commerce wnth her enemies, Great Britain un- 
dertook to put it down by condemning vessels of the United 
States on the ground that their cargoes were not neutral 
but belligerent i)r<)pei'ty ; in otlier words, that the Ameri- 
cans transported goods which were not their own, but those 
of nations at war with Great Britain. It must be allowed 
that the American shippers played a close game, importing 
merchandise only to get a neutral name for it, and then ex- 
porting it to the country to which it could not be shipped 
directly from its place of origin. But the sharper the prac- 
tice, the more of a favorite it seemed to be. A cry went 
up from all the commercial towns of the United IStates, ap- 
pealing to the government for protection, (1805.) 

Government could do but little. It passed a law 

MiBbion. . • 1 r 

proliibiling the inij)ortation of certam articles from 
Great Britain; the })rohibitIon, however, not to take imme- 



FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 343 

diate effect. This, it was thought, would so far intimidate 
the British authorities as to produce a suspension of their 
high-handed proceedings. At the same time, a mission, 
consisting of James Monroe and William Pinkney, was 
sent to London, to negotiate a new treaty, in which the dis- 
puted points should be included, (April, 1806.) " I hope," 
wrote Jefferson to Monroe, " that the ministry will come to 
just arrangements. No two countries upon earth have so 
many points of common interest and friendship ; and their 
rulers must be bunglers indeed, if with such dispositions 
they break them asunder." But the mission proved a total 
failure. In the first place, the envoys could obtain no sat- 
isfaction on the subject of impressment, and next to none on 
that of the neutral trade. In the next place, the treaty 
which they signed, notwithstanding these omissions, was at 
once rejected by President Jefferson, without even a refer- 
ence to the Senate, (March, 1807.) The tumult of party 
that ensued was immense. The president was charged with 
sacrificing the best interests of the country, as well as with 
violating the plainest provisions of the Constitution. Was 
it he alone who held the treaty-making power, — he, too, 
the republican, who had insisted upon restraining the powers 
of the executive ? But looking back upon the action of Jef- 
ferson, we see little in it to have provoked such outcries. 
He sent envoys to form a new treaty ; they had merely 
reformed an old one. It might be rash to sacrifice the ad- 
vantages which they had gained ; but might it not be igno- 
minious to surrender the claims which they had passed by ? 
If the nation needed to be convinced of the neces- 

Aflfair of • i /-^ t* • 

the chesa- sity of somc definite understanding with Great Brit- 
^'^^^'^' ain on the subjects omitted in the rejected treaty, it 
soon had an opportunity. The American frigate Chesa- 
peake, sailing from Hampton Eoads, was hailed off the 
capes of Chesapeake Bay by the British frigate Leopard, 



844 PART IV. 17f)7-18.30. 

the ojiptaln of wliich (loinan<l«'il to searcli the Cliesapoake 
for (Icscrtt IS from thr service of (Jnat Britain. Cai>taiii 
Barron, th<* coiinuaiiilir ot" llie C'lu'sapcake, n'l"n>c(l ; 
wherrupon the Leopard ojx-iied lire As liarron antl his 
crew were totally iiiii>repared tor action, they tired but ii 
single gun, to save their honor, then, having lo.-t several 
nu'n, struck their Hag. Tlie British eonunandcr took those 
of whom he was in search, three of the four hcing Ameri- 
cans, and left tiie C'iicsapeake to make her way hack 
dishonored, and the nation to which she belonged dishon- 
ored likewise, (June 22, 1807.) The president issued a 
proclamation, ordering British men-of-war fi(jm the waters 
of the United States. Instructions were sent to the envoys 
at London, directing them, not merely to seek reparation 
for the wrong that had been done, but to obtain the renun- 
ciation of the pretensions to a right of search and of im- 
pressment, from which the wrong had sprung. The British 
government recognized their responsibility, by sending a 
special minister to settle the difficulty at Washington. It 
was four years, however, before the desired reparation was 
procured, (1811.) The desired renunciation was never 
made. One can scarcely credit his vyv<, when he reads 
tliat the affair of the Chesapeake was made a })arty point. 
But so it was. The friends of Great Britain, the capitalists 
and commercial chusses, generally, murmured at the course 
of their government, as too decided, too French, they some- 
times called it; as if the slightest resistance to Great Britain 
were subordination to France. 

Aspect of '^^^^ aspect of the two nations was very much 
Grtat changed of late years. Bonaparte, the consul of 
an.i the French republic, had become Napoleon, the 

Fiiiuce. emi)eror of the French empire. Regarded by liis 
enemies as a monster steeped in despotism and in blood, he 
excited abhorrence, not only for himself, but for his nation, 



FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 345 

amongst a large portion of the Americans. On the other 
hand, Great Britain, formerly scouted at as the opponent 
of Hberty, was now generally considered its champion in 
Europe. There was but a faint comprehension of the prin- 
ciples involved in the struggle between Great Britain and 
France, of the real attitude taken by the former in warring 
against the chosen sovereign of the latter, or of the remorse- 
less ambition by which the one government was quite as 
much actuated as the other. But there was still a very 
considerable number in America to sympathize with France, 
if with either of the contending powers. To these men, 
the aggressions of Great Britain were intolerable ; while to 
the supporters of the British, the French aggressions were 
far the more unendurable. 

British Botli parties had their fill. Before the attack 

^"^^ on the Chesapeake, the lists had been opened 
aggres- bctwccn France and England, to see, not merely 
sious. jj^^^ much harm they could do to each other, but 
how much they could inflict upon all allied or connected 
w^ith each other. Connected with both were the Americans, 
who were now assailed by both. Great Britain led off by 
declaring the French ports, from Brest to the Elbe, closed 
to American as to all other shipping, (May 16, 1806.) 
France retorted by the Berlin decree, so called because 
issued from Prussia, prohibiting any commerce with Great 
Britain, (November 21.) That power immediately forbade 
the coasting trade between one port and another in the 
possession of her enemies, (January 7, 1807.) Not satis- 
fied with this, she went on to forbid all trade vdiatsoever 
with France and her allies, except on payment of a tribute 
to Great Britain, each vessel to pay in proportion to its 
cargo, (November 11.) Then followed the Milan decree 
of Napoleon, prohibiting all trade whatsoever with Great 
Britain, and declaring such vessels as paid the recently 



SIO r.Mir IV. 1707 I'wi). 

(Icmamlcd tribute to lie l;i\vi"iil ])rizes to the Frencli murine, 
(Dt'ccniber 17.) Siicli \v:is the series of acts tliuiidering 
like broadsides against tlie interests of America. It trans- 
ibrined conmiorce from a peaceful pursuit into a warlike 
one — iiill of pei-il, of loss, of Strife. It did more. It 
wounded the national honor, by attempting to prostrate the 
United States at the mercy of the Euro})ean powers. 
Tiie ad- Tlicrc was but one of two courses for the United 
miuUra- States to take — peace or pre[)aration for war. 
n-aiiist AVar itself was impossible in the unprovided ,->tat(! 
^*''"' of the country ; but to assume a defensive, and if 
need were, to get ready for an offensive position, was per- 
fectly practicable. Jefferson thought it enough to order an 
ailtlitional number of gunl)oats — very different from tin; 
gunboats of our time, and yet considered by the administra- 
tion and its supporters to constitute a navy by themselves. 
The president did not favor any thing that looked like war. 
lie had come into office with denunciations of the proceed- 
ings of the Adams administration against France ; nor 
did the circumstances in which the nation was now situated 
smooth the way to hostilities with any foreign power. " In 
th<' present maniac state of Europe," he wrote a little later, 
'' I should not estimate the point of honor by tlie ordinary 
scale. I believe we shall, on the contrary, have credit with 
the world for having made the avoidance of being engaged 
in the present unexampled war our first object. AVar, how- 
ever, may become a less losing busint^ss than unresisted 
depredation." There remained the alternative of })eace. 

To })rescrve it, the president hit ujion the most 
selt-denymgof plans. I he aggressions of the Euro- 
pean ]>o\vers were directed against the commerce of Amer- 
ica, the rights of owners and of crews. That these might 
be s<'cured, tlie president recommended, and Congn*ss 
aJioptt d, an embaigo upon all I'nited States vessels, and 



FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 347 

upon all foreign vessels with cargoes shipped after the' 
passage of the act in United States ports, (December 22, 
1807.) * In other words, as commerce led to injuries from 
foreign nations, commerce was to be abandoned. There 
was also the idea that the foreign nations themselves would 
suifer from the loss of American supplies and American 
prizes. It was a singular way, one must allow, of preserv- 
ing jDcace, to adopt a measure at once provoking to the 
stranger, and destructive to the citizen. The latter eluded 
it, and it was again and again enforced by severe and even 
arbitrary statutes. The former laughed it to scorn. France, 
on whose side the violent federalists declared the embargo 
to be, answered by a decree of Napoleon's from Bayonne, 
ordering the confiscation of all American vessels in French 
ports, (April 17, 1808.) Great Britain soon after made 
her response, by an order prohibiting the exportation of 
American produce, Avhether paying tribute or not, to the 
European continent, (December 21.) So ineffective abroad, 
so productive of discontent at home, even amongst the sup- 
porters of the administration, did the embargo prove, that 
it was repealed, (March, 1809.) 

Suoceed- Thus neither preserving peace nor preparing 
ins acts. f^j. ^yr^^^ Jeffcrsou gavc up the conduct of affairs to 
his successor, Madison, who kept on the same course. In 
place of the embargo were non-intercourse or non-importa- 
tion acts in relation to Great Britain and- France, as restric- 
tive as the embargo, so far as the designated nations were 
concerned, but leaving free the trade with other countries. 
These successors of the embargo, however, were nowise 
more effectual than that had been. They were reviled and 
violated in America ; they were contemned in Europe. 



* The date shoAvs that the embargo was laid before the news of the 
last violent decrees of France and Great Britain. 



348 PART IV. 1797-1850. 

Tlio administration amused itself with susj)ending the 
restrictions, now in favor of Great Britain, (18()'J,) and 
now in favor of France, (1810,) hoping to induce those 
powers to reciprocate the compliment by a suspension of 
their own aggressive orders. There was a show of doing 
so. Napoleon had recently issued a decree from Rambouil- 
let, ordering the sale of more than a hundred American 
vessels as condemned prizes, (March 23, 1810.) But oil 
the news from America, willing to involve the young nation 
in hostilities with Great Britain, he intimated his readiness 
to retracl the decrees of which the United States com- 
plained. But he would not do so, he made known, except 
on one of two conditions ; either the British orders must be 
recalled, or else, in case of their not being recalled, the 
claims of the United States must be enforced against them. 
To all this, Great Britain replied, that when the French 
decrees were actually, and not conditionally, revoked, her 
orders should be revoked like^vise. It was but a mockery 
on both sides ; and America, mortified, but not yet enlight- 
en(^d, returned to her prohibitions. They were scoffed at 
by her own people. 

Oppo- It is not so difficult to describe as to conceive the 

.sitioii. jjyg jjjj^j ^.^y^ Q^ ^Yie part of the opposition, against 
the embargo and the subsequent acts. Whatever discon- 
tent, whatever nulUfication had been expressed by the 
rci)ublicans against the war measures of Adams, was 
rivalled, if not outrivalled by the federalists against the 
so-called peace measures of Jefferson and Madison. Town 
meetings, state legislatures, even the courts in some places, 
declai'ed against the constitutionality and the validity of 
tlie embargo statutes. The federalists of Massachusetts 
were charged witli the design of dissohnng the Union. It 
was not their intention, but their language had warranted 
it^ being imi»ut<'(l to them. " Choose, then, fellow-citizens," 



FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 349 

their legislature exclaimed, " between the condition of a 
free state, possessing its equal weight and influence in the 
general government, or that of a colony, free in name, but 
in fact enslaved by sister states." 
^ ^. While affairs, domestic and foreiorn, were thus 

Indian •' <^ ' 

iiostiii- agitated, there came a fresh outbreak of Indian 
hostilities. It was under Jefferson that the plan of 
removing the Indians to the west was begun, (1804.) Of 
this the main object was to secure the continuance of peace, 
it being at that time comparatively unimportant to extend 
the national domains. But it was this very j^lan, though as 
yet imperfectly developed, that led, at least in part, to 
renewed warfare. Two chiefs of the Shawanoes, Tecum- 
seh and his twin brother, styled thc^Prophet, for some time 
settled on the Tippecanoe River, in the Indiana Territory, 
had set theinselves at the head of a sort of confederacy 
amongst the western races. But for the profane pretensions 
of the Prophet, and the unscrupulous intrigues of Tecum- 
seh, the principles of the league would have deserved 
success. One great point was the title of the Indians, as 
a whole, to the lands of which the whites were getting 
possession, by bargains with individuals or with individual 
tribes. Another was the prohibition of the ardent spirits 
with which the traders were destroying the Indians, body 
and soul. But to support these principles, the confederates, 
or their leaders, relied upon treachery and terror, super- 
stition and blasphemy. The governor of Indiana Terri- 
tory, William H. Harrison, marched against them with a* 
force of a few hundred. Tecumseh was absent at the time, 
but his brother and his confederates were overtaken. To 
the last, they professed peace, then fell upon the camp of 
the Americans. They were expected, however, and were 
routed, (November 7, 1811.) 

The steel was ghstening upon the southern frontier. An 
30 



350 PART IV. 1797-1850. 

r , . insurrection acaiii^t the Spanish anthority in West 
aim and Florida had been Ibllowed hy a presidential procla- 
mation declaring the territory on the east bank of the 
Mississi})pi a portion of Louisiana, (October, 1810.) Soon 
after, (January, 1811,) Congress authorized the acquisition 
of the entire province of Florida, provided either that S})ain 
consented to it, or that any other power attempted to take 
possession. Without any actual collision, the Spanish gar- 
risons and the American trooi)s were too near one another 
to favor peace. It did not lessen the excitement in that 
quarter, when Louisiana, with a large portion of Florida, 
according to the Spanish claim, Avas admitted a state, (April 
8, 1812.) The District of Louisiana in the north then 
took the name of Missouri. Another slice of Florida was 
annexed to the Mississippi Territory, while an insurrection 
within the remaining Florida limits was stimulated by an 
American functionary ; a demonstration being made against 
St. Angustine. Tliis was promi)tly disavowed by the gov- 
ernment at Washington ; but the troops from the states 
were not withdrawn until the following year, nor then 
entirely. Mobile being retained l)y way of compensation 
for what was surrendei'ed, (1813.) 

Li both the Florida and the Indian difTiculties, 

Warlike ,, . . , , i . • , , • 

prepara- British agcucy was su.-pected and inveighed against 
tiuiis ^ j]jg excited Americans. The angiy feelings 

a.:,'am.st *' ^ . . 

Great between the two nations had received a further 
stimulus from an encounter of the American frigate 
President with the British sloop of war Little Belt, in 
which the latter sutfered severely ; the only reason alleged 
by either of the vessels lor firing being an informality in 
hailing, (May, 1811.) It was plain that war was becoming 
])<)pnUir in the United States. As for that, it had always 
be<Mi so ; w^lien AVashington opposed it, he was abused ; 
when Adams favored it, he was extolled ; when Jefferson 



FOREIGN AGGRESSIONS. 351 

avoided it, he risked even liis immense influence over the 
nation. Congress now took up the question, and voted one 
measure after another, preparatory to hostilities with Great 
Britain, (December — March, 1812.) The president hesi- 
tated. He was no war leader by nature or by prmciple ; 
the only tendency in that direction came to him from party 
motives. His party, or the more active portion of i^, was 
all for arms; when he doubted, they urged; when he 
inchned to draw back, they drove him forward. It being 
the time when the congressional caucus was about to nom- 
inate for the presidency, Madison received the intimation 
that if he was a candidate for reelection, he must come out 
for war. Whether it was to force or to his own free will 
that he yielded, he did yield, and sent a message to Con- 
gress, recommending an embargo of sixty days. Congress 
received it, according to its intention, as a preliminary to 
war, and voted it, though far from unanunously, for mnety 
days, (April 4, 1812.) 

It was the natural termmation of the preceding 

Termma- ■*-'' "" tx7V,«+ 

tionof strifes, continued now for twenty years. What 
Zl""^' Washington had been able to suppress, because he 
strifes, g^oo^ above mere party motives, that neither Adams, 
nor Jefferson, nor Madison had been able to meet. They 
yielded, more or less, but all in some degree, to party what 
they should have maintained for the nation. From the 
very beginning, when Adams held office, the result was war 
^dth Fmnce ; the result of the controversies under Jeffer- 
son and under Madison was war with Great Britain. Nor 
let it be set down as an exaggeration, that war should be 
thus attributed to party movements at home, rather than to 
the national aggressions from abroad. The latter, it is true, 
were the material upon which parties and administrations 
acted; but what would have become of the material, had 



S:>2 TAUT IV. 17n7-18:)0. 

]);irtlcs and administrations been at i)eace ? Would any 
forcin;!! })ower have so assailed the nation, had it been 
united ? (.)r Avoiild it, if assailed, have borne its injuries 
so long-, that there remained no alternative but arms ? It 
is an impressive lesson of the effects of disunion. 



CHAPTER II. 

War with Great Britain. 

Deciara- A MESSAGE from the president called the atten- 
*^'^°' tion of Congress to the relations with Great Britain 
and with France. The former power, violating all individ- 
ual rights by its impressments, and all national ones by its 
blockades, its orders against neutrals, and its captures, was 
virtually at war with the United States. Nor could France 
be said to be at peace, while she continued her seizures of 
American vessels, notwithstanding the repeal of the decrees 
against neutral commerce. With her, however, there was 
some hope of successful negotiation ; in fact, conferences 
were now going on at Paris. But with Great Britain, the 
message implied little prospect of coming to terms. Con- 
gress took up the subject. Motions to include France in 
the course proposed with respect to Great Britain were 
made, but lost. Against Great Britain, war was voted by 
Congress, (June 18,) and declared by the president, (June 
19, 1812.) 

The United States went to war for two great 
of the principles ; one, the rights of neutrals, the other, 
United ^]^g rights of seamen ; botli involvinjr tlie honor and 

States. /- ^ 

the independence of the nation. To admit the 
necessity of the principles, however, is not to admit the 
necessity of the war as the means of sustaining them. 
France having again — and this time unconditionally — 
repealed her aggressive decrees. Great Britain withdrew 
30 * (353) 



354 PART IV. 1707-ia50. 

hor arbitrary orders in council just .as the war was declared, 
(June 23.) One of the chief grounds for hostilities, there- 
fore, fell throu«!;h. The other remained, but only, it was 
insisted by Great Britain, until the United States would 
take some measures to i)revent British seamen from enlist- 
inu in the American service, which bein"; done, tliei*e would 
be no need of search or of impressment by the navy of 
Great liritain. This \('Yy thing was begun u[)()n, though 
not until several months after the outbreak of war.* At 
the bcgimiing, the American minister at London was in- 
structed to propose an armistice, on condition that the 
claims of impressment and of neutral subjccticjii w<'re 
waived. The British government rejected the proposal, 
principally on the score of impressment, which they would 
not yield or even suspend during negotiation. For the 
reason that they would not do so, their proposals of an 
armistice, through their commanders in America, were 
rejected by the United States, (June — October.) AVe 
must fight, cried the war party, if it is only for our seamen ; 
six thousand of them are victims to these atrocious impress- 
ments. The British government had admitted, the year 
before, that they had sixteen hundred Americans in their 
sei"vice. But your six thousand, retorted the advocates of 
peace, are not all your own ; there are foreigners, Brhish 
subjects, amongst them ; and will you fight for tnese ? We 
will, was the rei>ly — and here the sym])athy of every 
generous heart must be theirs, so fi\r as they were sincere 
— the stranger who comes to dwell or to toil amongst us is 
as much our own as if he were born in America. 
A party I^'^^ ^^'^^ causc of the United States cannot ])e 
cause. g.^j,] ^jj have been so broad or so noble as the 



* But tho prohiMtion of forci'^n onlistmcuts was made to depend upon 
certain conditions, whi.'h were not fulfilled. 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 355 

protection of those who liad sought an asylum in the land. 
It was not even the cause of the nation itself, to judge by 
the way in which it was maintained. It was Avhat might 
have been expected from the movements leading to it — 
the cause of a party, nominally headed by Madison, the pres- 
ident, by James Monroe, the secretary of state, by Albert 
Gallatin, (the same who appeared m the Pennsylvania insur- 
rection of Washington's time,) the secretary of the treas- 
ury, and by others, officers or supporters of the administra- 
tion, both in and out of Congress ; but the real leaders of 
the war party were younger men, some risen to distinction, 
like Henry Clay, speaker of the House of Representatives, 
and John C. Calhoun, mem.ber of the same body, but many 
more aspiring to place in the council or in the camp, to 
place any where, so that there was an opening to the fame 
or to the emolument for wdiicli they variously yearned. 
As such The party support which the war received ex- 
opposed. plains the party opposition which it encountered. 
The signal, given by a protest from the federalist members 
of Congress, was caught up and repeated in public meetings 
and at private hearth-stones. Even the pulpit threw open 
its doors to political harangues, and those not of the mildest 
sort. " The alternative then is," exclaimed a clergyman at 
Boston, " that if you do not wish to become the slaves of 
those who own slaves, and who are themselves the slaves of 
French slaves, you must either, in the language of the day, 
cut the connection, or so far alter the national Constitution 
as to secure j^ourselves a due share in the government. 
The Union has long since been virtually dissolved, and it is 
full time that this portion of the United States should take 
care of itself." This single extract must stand here for a 
thousand others that might be cited. Coming from the 
source that it did, it is a striking illustration of the section- 
ality, nay, the personal vindictiveness, with which the oppo- 



uoij PAIIT IV. 1797-1 8o0. 

sition was ajiimatcHl. Strongest in New England, where 
alone the federalist party still retained its power, the hos- 
tility to the war si)read tlirough all parts of the country, 
gathering many of otherwise conflicting views around the 
banner that had so long been trailing in the dust. If we 
cannot sympathize with the l)arty thus reviving, we need 
not join in the tumult raised against it on the score of 
treachery or dishonor. The federahsts opposed tlie war, 
not because they were anti-national, but because they 
thought it anti-national. 

w.ir at The war began at home. The office of a federal- 
Lome, jj^^ paper, the Federal Repubhcan, conducted by 
Alexander Hanson, at Baltimore, was sacked by a mob, 
who then went on to attack dwellings, pillage vessels, and, 
finally, to fire the house of an individual suspected of par- 
tialities for Great Britain, (June 22, 2'3.) A month later, 
Hanson opened another oifice, and prepared to defend it, 
with the assistance of his friends, against the assault which 
he felt sure his boldness would jjrovoke. The mob came, 
and, after a night of liorror, forced the party in the office to 
yield themselves prisoners on a charge of murder. The 
next night the prison was assailed; Hanson and his frien<ls, 
excepting some who escaped, being beaten and tortured 
with indescribable fury. General Henry Lee, a revolu- 
tionary hero, who had taken the lead in the measures of 
defence, was injured for lite. Another soldier of the revo- 
lution. General Lingan, was actually slain ; a fate which 
would have been shared by many, but for tlie exhaustion 
of the destroyers, (July 26, 27.) All this was done with 
nothing more than the show of interference on the part of 
the authorities. Even at the subsequent trial of the ring- 
leaders in the mob, they were acquitted. Hanson kcj^t up 
his paper only by removing to Georgetown. 

Such being the pas.sions, such the divisions internally, Ihe 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 357 

Means for natloii needed more than tlie usual panoply to pro- 
tiiewar. ^^^^ itself externally. But it had less. The col- 
onies of 1775 did not go to war more unprepared than the 
United States of 1812. There was no army to speak of. 
Generals abounded, it is true, Henry Dearborn, late secre- 
tary of war, being at the head of the list ; but troops were 
few and far between, some thousands of regulars and of 
volunteers constituting the entire force. As to the militia, 
there were grave differences to prevent its efficient employ- 
ment. In the first place, there was a general distrust of 
such bodies of troops. In the next place, there were local 
controversies, between certain of the state authorities and 
the general government, as to the power of the latter to call 
out the militia in the existing state of things.* If the army 
was inconsiderable, the navy was hardly perce|3tible, em- 
bracing only eight or ten frigates, as many more smaller 
vessels, and a flotilla of comparatively useless gunboats. 
The national finances were in a correspondingly low con- 
dition. The revenue, affected by the interruptions to com- 
merce during the preceding years, needed all the stimulants 
which it could obtain, even in time of peace. It was wholly 
inadequate to the exigencies of war. Accordingly, resort 
was had to loans, then to direct taxes and licenses, (1813.) 
But the ways and means fell far short of the demands upon 
them. In fme, whether v^e take a financial or a military 
point of view, we find the country equally unfitted for hos- 
tilities. It might rely, indeed, upon its own inherent ener= 
gies, the energies of six millions of freemen ; f but even 
these were distracted, and to a great degree paralyzed. 

* The Constitution authorizing Congress " to provide for calling forth 
the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and 
repel invasions." 

t The census of 1810 gave a total of 7,239,814, of which 1,191,364 were 
slaves. 



ij58 I'AllT IV. 17'.»7-ia50. 



I'Ksition 
UriUiin. 



F'ortiuiatc, tlicnlorc, was it tliat Groat Britain 
was occupied, it may l»c .<aitl absorlx'cl, in Kuropc. 
llcr ini;jrlily struggle witli iSa]>olcuii was at its 
licight wlicn the Uiiitetl States declared war. To British 
ears the declaration sounded much the same as tlw^ wail of a 
child amidst the contentions of men. Very little heed wa,s 
jiaid to it, the retraction of the orders in council being con- 
sidered as likely to end it altogether. But to tlie astonish- 
ment of the British government the Americans ])ersisted. 
T.et them wait, was the tone, until Bonaparte is crushed, 
and they sliall hav<' tiieir turn. 

The eluuge lell again and again upon the United 

Of France. ^, , . . . ^ . , . 

States adnnnistration, from its opponents, that it 
was entering into war as the ally, or rather as tlic minion, 
of France. The charge was unfbuiuh'd. Even had it been 
intended by the war party to go to the aid of Napoleon, 
they would have been stopped, partly by his utter indif!er- 
ence at the time, and partly by his declining fortunes in th<^ 
months that ensued. He and his nation had no mind to 
look beyond their own vicissitudes. 

Notwithstanding the almost entire want of means, 

The war. '^ ^ ' 

Lossison the United States government determined to carry 
vust.'rn *^^^' '^^''i^ ^"^^^ ^^'<' enemy's country. For this purpose, 
fi'.ntier. 'William Hull, general and govenior of Michigan 
Territory, crossed from Detroit to Sandwich, in Canada, with 
about two thousand men, (July 12.) In a httle more than a 
month, he had not only retreated, but surrendered, without 
a blow, to General Brock, tl.e governor of Lower Canada, 
(August 10.) The British, already in possession of the 
northern part of IMichigan, were soon mastei-s of the entire 
territory. So far from Ix'ing jible to r«>eover it. General 
Harrison, who made the attempt in the ensuing autumn 
and winter, found it all he could do to save Ohio from fall- 
ing with Michigan. A detachment of Kr-ntuckians yieldt-d 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 359 

to a superior force of British at Frenchtown, on the River 
Raisin, (January, 1813 ;) whereupon Harrison took post 
by the Maumee, at Fort Meigs, holding out there against 
the British and their Indian aUies, (April, May.) The 
same fort was again assailed and again defended, General 
Clay being at that time in command, (July.) Fort Steven- 
son, on the Sandusky, was then attacked, but defended with 
great spirit and success by a small garrison under Major 
Croghan, (August.) Yet Ohio was still in danger. 

It was rescued by different operations from those 

Perry's •' ■•■ 

victory on as yct described. Captain Chauncey, after gather- 
"ing a little fleet on Lake Ontario, where he achieved 
some successes, appointed Lieutenant Oliver H. Perry to 
the command on Lake Erie. Perry's fii*st duty was to pro- 
vide a fleet ; liis next, to lead it, when provided, against the 
British vessels under Captain Barclay. At length the 
squadrons met off Sandusky, the British to suffer total de- 
feat, the Americans to win complete victory, (September 
10, 1813.) It was in more than official language that the 
president communicated tliis achievement to Congress. 
" The conduct of Captain Perry," he said, " adroit as it was 
daring, and which was so well seconded by his comrades, 
justly entitles them to the admiration and gratitude of their 
country, and will fill an early page in its naval annals with 
a victory never surpassed in lustre, however much it may 
have been in magnitude." It was a victory on a small 
scale. Yet its importance immediately appeared. Taking 
on board a body of troops from Ohio and Kentucky, under 
Harrison, Perry transported them to the neighborhood of 
Sandwich, on the Canada shore, the same spot against 
which Hull had marched more than a twelvemonth before. 
The British having retired, Harrison crossed to Detroit. 
Recrossing, he advanced in pursuit of the much less numer- 
ous enemy, whose rear and whose main body were routed 



3 GO PAUT IV. 17'J7-1S30. 

on two successive days, (October 4, 5.) The latter action, 
on the bank of the Thames, was decisive; tiie British Gen- 
eral ProetOr making his escape with but a small portion 
of his troops, while his Indian ally, Tecumseh, was slain. 
Oliio was thus saved, and Michigan recovered; though not 
entirely, the Briti^h still holding the northern extremity of 
the territory. 

All along the frontier between New York and 
ouslw^^ Canada, there had been from the first some scat- 
Y.ri; tered forces, both American and British. The 
former pretended to act on the otlensive, but amidst 
continual failures. Chief of these movements without inter- 
est and without result, was an attack against Queenstown, 
on the Canada shore of the Niagara River. Advanced 
parties gained possession of a battery on the bank, but there 
they were checked, and at length obliged to surrender, for 
want of support from their comrades on the American side. 
General Van Rensselaer was the American, General Brock 
the British commander; the latter falling in battle, the 
former resigning in disgust after the battle was over, (Octo- 
ber 13, 1812.) In the following spring, General Dearborn 
and the land troops, in conjunction with Chauncey and the 
fleet, took York, (now Toronto,) the capital of Upper Can- 
adii, burning the Parliament House, and then proceeding 
successfully against the forts on the Niagara River, (April, 
May, 1813.) At this ])oint, however, affairs took an unfa- 
vorable turn. The British mustered strong, and, though 
repulsed from Sackett's Harbor by General Brown, at the 
head of some regular troops and volunteers, they obtained 
the command of the lake, making descents in various places, 
and reducing the American forces, both land and naval, to 
comi)arative inactivity, (June.) Months afterwards, the 
land forces, now under the lead of General Wilkinson, 
started on a long-proposed expedition against ^lontrcal; 



\VAE TTITH GEE AT BRITAIN. 361 

but encountering resistance on the way down the St. Law- 
rence, went straight into winter quarters within the New 
York frontier. A body of troops under General Hampton, 
moving in the same direction from Lake Champlain, met 
with a feint of opposition, rather than opposition itself, from 
the British ; it was sufficient, however, to induce a retreat, 
(November.) Both these armies far outnumbered the 
enemy, Wilkinson having seventy-five hundred, and Hamp- 
ton forty-five hundred men under them. On the western 
border of New York, things went still worse. General 
M'Clure, left in charge of the Niagara frontier, was so 
weakened by the loss of men at the expiration of their 
4erms of service, and at the same time so pressed by the 
enemy, as to abandon the Canada shore, leaving behind him 
the ruins of Fort George and of the ^illage of Newark. 
The destruction thus wreaked by orders of the government 
was avenged upon the New York borders. Parties of Brit- 
ish and Lidians, crossing the frontier at different places, 
took Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the river, and swept 
the adjacent country with fire and sword as lar as Buffalo, 
(December.) Glutted with success, the invaders retired, 
save from Fort Niagara, which they held untU the end of 
the war. Li the following spring, (March, 1814,) General 
Wilkinson emerged from his retreat, and, with a portion of 
his troops, undertook to carry the approaches to Canada 
from the side of Lake Champlain. But on coming up with 
a stone mill held by British troops, he abruptly withdrew. 
A more helpless group than that of the Americans, wheth- 
er commanders, officers, or soldiers, on the New York 
frontier, cannot well be conceived. There were exceptions, 
of course, as in the fleets of Ontario, and especially of Erie ; 
but on shore there was almost imbroken imbecility. The 
secretary of war himself. General Armstrong, had been 
upon the groimd ; he but confirmed the rule. 
31 



.302 PART IV. 1707-1S,50. 

OnNinpftra As the war, tliiis j)lti;il)ly prosccutc'd, ontorcd 
into Its tliinl year, (IMI.) a coni'i'ntration ot 
efforts, both American anil Hritisli, took j)hic(; npon tlic 
Niagai'a frontier. General Brown, tlu; clelendcr of Saek- 
ett's Harbor, obtaining the eonunand, and with such 
snpportcrs as General Scott and other gallant olficcrs, 
resolved npon crossing to the Canada side. Tliere, with 
an army of some thirty-tive hnndred men, he took Fort 
Erie, (July 2,) gained the battle of Chippewa, (July f),) 
and drove the enemy, under General liiall, from the fron- 
tier, save from a single stronghold, P'ort George. The 
IJritish, however, on being reenforced, returned under Gen- 
erals liiall and Drunnnowd, and met the Americans M 
Bridgewater — the most of an action that had as yet been 
fought during the war. It was within the roar of Niagara 
that the opposing lines crossed their swords and opened 
their batteries. Begun by Scott, in advance of the main 
body, which soon came up under Brown, the battle was 
continued until midnight, to the advantage of the American 
army, (July 25.) But they were unable to follow np or 
even to maintain their success, and fell back npon Fort 
Erie. Thither the British proceeded, and after a night 
assault, laid siege to the i)lace, then under the command of 
General Gaines. As soon as Brown, who had withdrawn 
to recover from his wounds, resumed his command at the 
fort, he at once ordered a sortie, the result b"ing the raising 
of the siege, (September 17.) He was soon after called 
away to defend Sackett's Ilarljor, the enemy having the 
upper hand on the lake. His successor in command on the 
Niagara frontier. General Izard, blew up Fort Erie, and 
abandoned the Canada shore, (November.) 

Meanwhile the American arms had distinguished them- 
selves on the side of Lake Champlain. Tliither descended 
the British General Prevost with twelve thousand soldiers, 



WAR Ml'ni GilEAT BFJTAIN. 363 

lately arrived from Europe, his object beinor to 

Defence i * • i -t-.! i , 

of Lake carrj the American works at Ir'jattsburg, and to 
Cham- drive the American vessels from the waters. He 

pliim. 

was totally unsuccessful. Captain McDonough, 
after long exertions, had constructed a fleet, with which 
he now met and overwhelmed the British squadron. The 
land attack upon the few thousand regulars and militia 
under General Macomb was hardly begun before it was 
given over in consequence of the naval action, (September 
11.) No engagement in the war, before or after, was more 
unequal in point of force, the British being greatly the 
superiors ; yet none was more decisive. 
British '^^^^ British superiority observable at Lake Cham- 
superi- plain and elsewhere requires a word of explanation. 
^^^ '^' Napoleon, fallen some months before, had left the 
armies and fleets of Great Britain free to act in other 
scenes than those to which they had been so long confined. 
The war with the United States had acquired no new 
importance in sight of the British authorities ; but it was 
time to crush the adversary that had dared to brave them. 
The troops transported to America — some to Canada, as 
we have seen, some to other places, as we shall soon see — 
were superior to the Americans generally in numbers, and 
always in appointments and in discipline. They were the 
men to whom France had succumbed ; it must have seemed 
impossible that the United States should resist them. 
Successes The apprehcusions of the enemy, aroused by some 
at sea. ^f ^^q operations on land, had been highly excited 
by some of those at sea. Before the gallant actions upon 
the lakes, a succession of remarkable exploits had occurred 
upon the ocean. It had been the policy of the republican 
administration to keep down the navy which their federalist 
predecessors had encouraged. But the navy, or that frag- 
ment of one which remained, returned good for evil. The 



;]i;i TAUT IV. 1797-18.30. 

frigate Essox, under Captain Porter, took the sloop of war 
Alert oir the norllui-n coast, (Au;fust 13, 1S12;) the Jri^Mte 
Con-tiiution, Captain Isaac Hull, took the frigate Guorriere 
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, (August 19 ;) the sloop of 
"vvar AVasp, Captain Jones, took the brig Frolic, hotli, how- 
ever, falling prizes to the seventy-four Poictiers, not far 
from the liernnida.s, (October 13 ;) the frigate United 
States, Captain Decatur, took the frigate Macedonian off the 
Azores, (October 23 ;) and the Constitution again, now 
under Captain Bainbridge, took the frigate Java off lirazil, 
(December 20.) This^^ries of triumphs was broken by 
but two reverses, the capture of the brig Nautilus by the 
British squadron, and that of the brig Vixen by the IJiitisli 
frigate Souliianipton, both off the Atlantic coast. Nothing 
could be more striking than the eflect upon both the nations 
that were at war. The British started with amazement, 
not to say terror, at the idea of their ships, their cherished 
instruments of superiority at sea, yielding to an enemy. 
The Americans were proportionately animated ; better still, 
they were for once united in a common feeling of })ride and 
national honor. 

Here, however, the ini])ulse ceased, or began to 
quent ccasc. The navy was too inconsidei-able to con- 
tinue the contest, the nation too inactive to recruit 
its numbers and its powers. The captures of the succeed- 
ing period of the war, though made with quite as much 
gallantry, were of much less importance ; while one vessel 
after another, beginning with the frigate Chesapeake, off 
Boston harbor, (June 1, 1S13,) was forced to strike to the 
enemy. ISIany of the larger ships were henmied in by the 
British blockade, wlien this, cominciK-iiig with llie war, was 
extended along the entire coast. The last glimmer of naval 
victory for the time was the defeat of the sloop of war 
Avon by the A\'asp, Cajjtaiii Bhikeiy, olf tlie French coast, 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 365 

(September 1, 1814.) But a few weeks later, the Wasp 
was lost with all its crew, leaving not a single vessel of the 
United States navy on the seas. Every one that had 
escaped the perils of the ocean and of war was shut up in 
port behmd the greatly superior squadrons of Great Britain. 
The coast, from the first blockaded, and occa- 

Losses ' 

upon the sionally visited by invading parties of the British, 
^0^^*- was in an appalling state, (1814.) Eastport was 
taken ; Castine, Belfast, and Machias were seized, with 
claims against the whole country east of the Penobscot; 
Cape Cod, or some of the towns upon it, had to purchase 
safety ; Stonington was bombarded. Fortifications were 
hastily thrown up wherever they could be by the Ameri- 
cans ; the militia was called out by the states, and the 
general government was urged to despatch its regular 
troops to the menaced shores. It was officially announced 
by the British Admiral Cochrane that he was ynperatively 
instructed " to destroy and lay waste all towns and districts 
of the United States found accessive to the attack of 
British armaments." This was not war, but devastation. 
Capture The Chesapeake, long a favorite point for the 
of Wash- British descents, was now occupied by a large, 
aud Alex- indeed a double fleet, under Admirals Cochrane 
andna. ^^^^ Cockburn, with several thousand land troops 
and marines under General Ross. This body, landing 
about fifty miles from Wasliington, marched against that 
city, while the American militia retreated hither and 
thither, making a stand for a few moments only at Bladens- 
burg, (August 24.) On the evening following this rout, 
the British took possession of Washington, and next day 
proceeded to carry out the orders announced by the admiral. 
Stores were destroyed ; a frigate and a sloop were burned ; 
the public buildings, including the Capitol, and even the man- 
sion of the president, were plundered and fired. Against 
31 ^^ 



iJGG rART IV. 1797-lSoy. 

this " unwarrantable extension of the ravages of war," as 
it is styled by a British writer, the L^nitcd States had no 
right to complain, remembering the burning of the Parlia- 
ment House at York, or the destruction of Newark, in the 
j)receding year, although both these outrages had been 
already avenged on the New York frontier. A few hours 
were enough lor the work of ruin at AVashington, (August 
2r>,) and the British returned to their ships. The same 
day (August 29) some frigates appeared off Alexandria, 
and extorted an enormous ransom for the town. Every 
thing on the American side was helplessness and submis- 
sion. The president and his cabinet had reviewed the 
troops, which mustered to the number of several thousands ; 
generals and officers had been thick upon the field ; but 
there was no consistent counsel, no steadfast action, and 
the country lay as open to the enemy as if it had been 
uninhabited. 
^ , It is a relief to turn to Baltimore. Fresh from 

Defence 

of J5aiti- their marauding victories, the British landed at 
North Point, some miles below that city. They 
were too strong for the Americans, who retired, but not 
imtil after a bravely contested battle, in which the British 
commander. General Ross, was slain, (September 12.) As 
the army advanced against the town, the next day, the fleet 
bombarded Fort McIIenry, an inconsiderable defence just 
below Baltimore. But the bombardment and the advance 
proving ineffectual, the invaders retreated. They had been 
courageously met, triumphantly repelled. North Point and 
Fort McHenry are names which shine out, like those of 
Erie and Champlain, brilliant amidst encompassing dark- 
ness. 

Indian As if One war were not enough for a nation so 

foes. j^j^j.^i pressed, another had broken out. The Indians 
on the north-west, the followers of Tecumseh, and others 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 3G7 

besides, were but the allies of the British. Indei)endent 
foes, fighting altogether for themselves, uprose in the Creeks 
of the Mississippi Territory, where they surprised some 
hundreds of Americans at Fort Mimms, (August, 1813.) 
Numerous bodies of border volunteers at once started for 
the haunts of the enemy, chief amongst the number being 
the troops of Tennessee, under General Jackson. Pene- 
trating into the heart of the Creek country, after various 
bloody encounters, Jackson at length routed the main body 
of the foe at a place called Tohopeka, (March 27, 1814.) 
A few months after, he concluded a treaty, by which the 
Creeks surrendered the larger part of their territory. 
National Euough remained, as has been seen, to keep the 
straits, nation in sad straits. There were various causes to 
produce the same effect. To raise the very first essential 
for carrying on a war, a sufficient army, had been found 
impossible, notwithstanding all sorts of new provisions to 
facilitate the operation. It was in vain to increase the 
bounties, in vain even to authorize the enlistment of minors 
without the consent of their parents or masters ; * all allure- 
ments failed. The chief reliance of the government was 
necessarily upon the mihtia, about which the same contro- 
versies continued as those already mentioned between the 
federal and the state authorities. Yet, to show the extent 
to which the opposition party indulged itself in embarrass- 
ing the government, an alarm was sounded against the 
national forces, small though they were, as threatening the 
liberties of the country. But the army was not the only 
point of difficulty. To prevent supplies to the forces of 
the enemy, as well as to cut him off from all advantages of 
commerce with the United States, a new embargo was laid, 



* Rejected, when first proposed to Congress, but afterwards carried, 
(December, 1814.) 



368 TAUT IV. 1707-iRoO. 

(D(3Combor, 1813.) So s(^v<»ro were it.s restriction?, aflfcot- 
ing even the coasting trade and the fisliery, that Ma-ssadiu- 
setts called it another Boston j)ort bill, and pronounced it, 
by her lei^islature, to b(^ unconstitutional. It was repealed 
in a lew months, and with it the non-inij)(>rtation act, which, 
in one shape or anolln r, had hiniu: uj)()ii the commercial 
interests of the nation, tor years, (April, l?!il4.) More 
serious by far were the financial eml)arrassments of the 
government. All efforts to relieve the treasury had been 
wholly inade(piate. Loan after loan was contracted ; tax 
after tax was laid, until carriages, furniture, pajjcr, and even 
watches, were assessed, while plans were formed for other 
means, such as the creation of a national bank, the earlier 
one having expired according to the provisions of its char- 
ter. But the state to which the finances at length arrived 
was this, that while eleven millions of revenue were all to 
be counted upon, — ten from taxes, and only one from cus- 
tom duties, — tidy millions were needed for the expendi- 
tures of the year, (1815.) It did not ease matters when a 
large number of the banks of the country suspended specie 
payments, (August, 1814.) 
^ , The oi)i)osition to the war had never ceased. It 

Party ^ ^ 

contro- rested, indeed, on foundations too deep to be lijxhtly 
moved. Below the points immediately relating to 
the war itself, were the earlier questions arising during the 
operation of the government, nay, the still earlier ones, that 
arose with the government — the questions of the Constitu- 
tion. All these had been brought out into contrast and into 
collision by the conflict with Great Britain. Such old top- 
ics as the relations of the national and the state govern- 
ments came up for fresh controversy. " The government 
of the United States," declared the federalist chief magis- 
trate of IMassachusetts, " is founded on the state govern- 
ments, and must be sui)ported by them." There might be 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 369 

a change of sides ; federalists might stand where republicans 
had stood, and republicans Avhere federalists had done ; but 
the divisions were the same. Even those between the north 
and the south reappeared, and with wider lines, in the midst 
of the war, which, as a general rule, the south supported 
and the north opposed. 
„ ,^ ^ The idea of a convention of the party, or, as the 

Hartford ^ •" ' 

Convcn- phrase ran, of the states opposing the war, was 
started in Massachusetts. So little countenance did 
it receive, as to be dropped for several months, when 
increasing trials led to increasing struggles. It was then 
renewed, but in the more modest guise of " a conference 
between those states the affinity of whose interests is closest, 
and whose habits of intercourse from local and other causes 
are most frequent ; " in other words, the New England 
States ; but action upon subjects of a national nature was 
to be left, should the conference deem it expedient, " to a 
future convention from all the states in the Union." The 
Massachusetts legislature appointed twelve delegates to 
represent her in the conference, and invited her sister states 
of New England to do likewise, (October, 1814.) Con- 
necticut responded by appointing seven delegates, and desig- 
nating Hartford as the place for the conference to meet. 
Rhode Island appointed four delegates ; two counties in 
New Hampshire and one county in Vermont, one delegate 
each. Twenty-six were chosen, all but two of whom were 
present on the opening of the conference at Hartford, 
(December 15.) The other two afterwards appeared, con- 
stituting, with the secretary, an assembly of twenty-seven. 
Charges of ^0 Small was tlic body to which an immense 
disunion, importance was attached at and after the time, but 
rather by its opponents than its adherents. The latter re- 
garded it just as it was, a meeting of men to whom the 
greater part of New England was glad to intrust its shat- 



370 PART IV. 17!)7-1S.')0. 

terc'J interests, but without any dtM-p-scnted expectation of 
succor, so strong aL'ainst them wo-s the majority of tlie 
nation. To this niaj<jrity, however, or to its mouthpieces, 
the assembly at Hartford wore a different aspect. It was 
the hist desperate stake, the administration party urged, of 
the oj)position ; lost or won, it hast<'n('d the issue of disunion 
so long suspected as prepared. AMiatever extremes the fed- 
eralists may have fallen into, there is no proof of their 
iiitt-nding to separate from their countrymen. The call of 
tlu' Massachusetts authorities for this very conference at 
llartt'urd prujjoscd such dclibei'ations and sucli measures, 
only, as were " not rej)Ugnant to their obligations as mem- 
bers of the Union." That they were in earnest api)ears 
from the proceedings of the conference, or the Convention, 
as it is generally called. 

The Convention, of whicli George Cabot, of Mas- 

rrococd" 

in-sof thoSachusetts, was the president, and Hai'rison Gray 
Convou- Qi'i^^ also of Massachusetts, the leading member, 
addressed itself to its work with prayer. It found 
two classes of " dangers and grievances," as it entitled them, 
to be considered: one which required present relief, the 
other which might be left for future redi'css. Of the first, 
the chief were the illegal course of the government in rela- 
tion to the militia and the destitution of all defensive re- 
sources in which New England was left. To meet these 
dilliculties, the Convention suggested that the New England 
Stat«'s might be allowed to assume their own defence, and, 
fuitlier, tiiat a reasonable portion of the taxes assessed upon 
th<'m by the general government should be retained by 
them to cover the expenses of defending themselves. As 
to the second cImss of c(>nij)l:unts, embracing most of the 
matters that had been urged against the n^publican admin- 
istrations by the federalists, the Convention set forth seven 
unieiKliiiciUs to the Constitution. These were all ])roliib- 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 371 

itory : one against any representation of slaves ; another 
against any embargo of longer duration than sixty days ; 
three others against any law of non-intercourse, any war, 
unless it were defensive, any admission of a new state, ex- 
cept by a two thirds vote in Congress ; a sixth against the 
eligibihty of persons " hereafter to be naturalized " to Con- 
gress or to any civil office under the United States ; , and a 
seventh against the reelection of a president, or the election 
of two successive presidents from the same state. In pro- 
posing these amendments, the Convention declared " that no 
hostility to the Constitution is meditated." After providing 
for a second Convention at Boston, in case " peace should 
not be concluded and the defence of these states should be 
rejected," the Convention adjourned, having been three 
weeks in session, (January 5, 1815.) 

The results were almost null. They might be 
said to have been altogether so, but for a law passed 
by Congress without any apparent reference to the Con- 
vention, ordering that militia should " be employed in the 
state raising the same or in an adjoining state, and not else- 
where, except with the assent of the executive of the state 
so raising the same," (January.) Otherwise, nothing fol- 
lowed the much dreaded Convention. The commissioners 
appointed to apply to the general government on the i3art 
of Massachusetts, for leave to carry out the recommenda- 
tions of the Convention touching the self-defence of the 
states, found the war at an end when they reached Wash- 
ington. The constitutional amendments were rejected by 
the states to which they were proposed. 

Meanwhile proceedings on which far less stress 

Nullifica- ^ ^ 

tion in has been laid than upon those of the Hartford Con- 
Connecti- yentiou, had occurred in Connecticut and Massachu- 

cut and ' 

Massachu- sctts. The legislatures of those states passed acts 
in direct conflict with a recent statute of the United 



372 PART IV. 1797-1850. 

States rojrariling the enlistment of minors. So far was this 
eontrailiclcd by the measures in question, that the parties 
engaged in enHsting minors were subjected to fine and 
imprisonment, (January, 1815.) It was not the first time 
that these states had set themselves against the Union. 
Both had taken ground against the embargo, Connecticut 
by statute and Massachusetts by her judicial tribunals. 
Massachusetts had more lately resisted the measures of the 
government, as we shall see, in relation to British prison- 
ers. NulUlication was far beyond the doctrines of tin' Con- 
vention. That body had declared itself in this wise: "Tliat 
acts of Congress in violation of the Constitution are abso- 
hitely void is an undeniable position. It does not, however, 
consist witli the respect and forbearance due from a confed- 
erate state towards the general government, to fly to open 
resistance ui)on every infraction of the Constitution." But 
passions were high, and nullification came naturally to New 
England. 

Defonoe of From tliese strifes let us return to the less serious 
Louisiuua. ^jj^g Qf ^i^q battle field. Late in the summer pre- 
ceding the Hartford Convention, a British party landed at 
Pensacola, whose Spanish possessors were supposed to be 
inclined to side against the United States. Aii attack, in 
the early autumn, upon Fort Bowyer, thirty miles from 
Mobile, was repelled by the small but heroic garrison under 
Major Lawrence, (September 15.) A month or two after- 
wards. General Jackson advanced against Pensacola with a 
force so formidable that the British withdrew, Jackson then 
resigning the town to the Sj^anish authorities, and repairing 
to New Orleans, against which the enemy was believed to 
be preparing an expedition, (November.) There he busied 
himself in raising his forces and providing his defences, 
until the British arrived upon the coast. After capturing a 
feeble flotilla of the Americans, they began their advance 



WAR WITH GHEAT BRITAIN. 373 

against the capital of Louisiana, (December.) They were 
ten thousand and upwards ; the Americans not more than 
half as numerous. Jackson, on learning their approach, 
marched directly against them, surprising them in their 
camp by night, and dealing them a blow from which tlicy 
hardly seem to have recovered, (December 23.) They 
soon, however, resumed the offensive under Sir Edward 
Pakeuham, advancing thrice against the American hnes, 
but thrice retreating. The last action goes by the name of 
the battle of New Orleans. It resulted in the defeat of the 
enemy, with the loss of Pakenham and two thousand be- 
sides, the Americans losing less than a hundred, (January 
8, 1815.) The British retired to the sea, taking Fort 
Bowyer, the same that had resisted an attack the autumn 
before, (February 12.) Louisiana had been nobly de- 
fended, and not by the energy of Jackson alone, nor by the 
resolution of her own people, but by the generous spirit 
with which the entire south-west sent its sons to her 
rescue. 

Martial Jackson had hesitated at nothing in defending 

law at New New Orleans. Upon the approach of the British, 
he proclaimed martial law ; he continued it after 
their departure. The author of a newspaper article reflect- 
ing upon the general's conduct was sent to prison to await 
trial for life. The United States district judge was arrested 
and expelled from the city for having issued a writ of 
habeas corpus in the prisoner's behalf; and on the district 
attorney's applying to the state court in behalf of the judge, 
he, too, was banished. On the proclamation of peace, mar- 
tial law was necessarily suspended. The judge returned, 
and summoning the general before him, imposed a fine of 
one thousand dollars. The sum was paid by Jackson, but 
was offered to be repaid to him by a subscription, which 
32 



374 PART IV. 1707-18.50. 

proved pul>li(^ ()j)inioii to sustain his dotorminod course.* 
It was i-haractcristic of the inan and of" his adherents in 
after years. 

Whik^ these events were ffoinp; on b\^ hind, the 
aiuo of sea \7as for a time abandoned, at h^ast by all na- 
t oniuy. jjj^j^.jj v(jj;g(^.[<. l^rivateers continued their work of 
plunder and of (h'struction — a work which, however miser- 
able to eontemphiti', doubtless had its clffct in bringing the 
war to a close. Ihit the navy of the nation had disappeared 
from the ocean. It })resently reapjjijared in tlie shape of its 
pride and ornament, the Con.->titution, which, under her new 
commander, Stewart, got to sea iVom Hoston, (December, 
1814.) The President, Hornet, and Peacock did the same 
from New York, the President being inuuediately captured, 
though not witliout a severe eoml)at, by the British cruisers, 
(January, 181o.) Her loss was avenged by the sister ves- 
sels ; the Constitution taking two sloo])3 of war at once — 
the Cyane and the Levant — off Madeira, (February 20;) 
the Hornet sloop taking tlie Penguin brig off the Island of 
Tristan d'Acunha, (March 23 ;) and the Peacock sloop 
taking the Nautilus, an East India Company's cruiser, off 
Sumatra, (June 30.) f AH these actions were subsequent 
to a treaty of peace. 

The war liad not continued a year when the administra- 
tion accepted an offer of Russian mediation, and despatched 



* Refusing; to receive the subsciij)tion, he was reimbursed, near thirty 
years afterwards, by order of Conijress. 

■ f "Thus terminated at sea," says the British historian Alison, towards 
the close of an account by no means partial to the American .side, " this 
menioraljlc contest, in which the Ent!;lish, for the first time for a century 
and a half, met with equal antagonists on their own element ; and in re- 
counting whicli, the British liistorian, at a loss whether to admire most 
the devoted heroism of his own countrjTnen or the pallant bearing of 
their antagonists, feels almost equally warmed in narrating either side of 
the strife." 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 875 

envoys to treat of peace. The chief points to be 

Peace pre- ♦^ '■ ^ ^_ 

limina- provided for, according to the instructions, were, 
"'^^^^ first, impressments, of which, it will be remembered, 
the settlement had been facilitated by an American law 
prohibiting the enlistment of British seamen in the service 
of the United States, and next, the matter of blockades, the 
only part of the anti-neutral system which had not been 
abandoned by the British, (March, 1813.) Great Britain 
declined the mediation of Russia, but offered to enter into 
negotiations either at London or at Gottenburg. The 
American government clio.-e the latter place, and appointed 
five commissioners — John Quincy Adams, James A. Bay- 
ard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin — 
to negotiate a treaty, under much the same instructions as 
before, (January, February, 1814.) But on the news of 
the triumph of Great Britain and her allies over Napoleon, 
the demands of the United States were sensibly modified. 
The opposition alleged it to be from fear of the foe, whose 
power was so much increased by the issue of the European 
war. But the administration and its party declared that 
the pacification of Europe did away with the very abuses 
of which America had to complain ; in other words, that 
there would be no blockades or impressments in time of 
peace. At all events, the envoys were directed to leave 
these points for future negotiation, confining themselves at 
present to the conclusion of a general treaty. They were 
also authorized to treat at London, if they thought the 
arrival of British commissioners at Gottenburg was likely 
to be delayed, (June.) The new instructions found the 
commissioners of both nations in session at Ghent, (Au- 
gust 8.) 

Treaty of 'FouY months and a half elapsed before coming to 
Ghent, terms. The British demands, especially on the 
point of retaining the conquests made during the war, were 



C76 TAUT IV. 1707-18.50. 

altopfothcr inadmissiljlo. Fortunately, tliey were yielded ; 
the disposal of the Ainei-ii*an (iiiestion bein*:: desirahle in 
tlie iiiu-eriain slate of luirojiean aifaii's. A treaty was con- 
sequent ly framed, restoring the conquests on either side, 
and providing conunissioners to arranj:;e the boundary and 
other minor (juestions between tlie nations, (December 24.) 
The objects of the war, accordini^ to the declarations at its 
outbreak, were not mentioned in the articles by which it 
wa- closed ; yet the United States did not hesitate to ratify 
the treaty, (PY'brnary IH.) "Within a week afterwards, the 
president reconnneni^d " the liaviuation of American ves- 
sels exclusively by American s(amen, either natives or such 
as are already naturalized ;" the reason assigned ])eing " to 
p:nar<l against incidents which, during the })<'riods of war in 
Eurojte, might tend to interrupt peace." What could not 
be gaineil by treaty might be secured by legislation. 

Though much was waive(l tor the sake of ])eace, 

Protoc- ,.,.,. Ill ■ J. ■ ^ r 

tion of one prmcii)le, it no more, had been mamtamed tor 
foivign- Q^jj. count rv. In the first year of the war, the 

ens. ' 

British had set out to treat some Irishmen taken 
while fighting on the American side, not as ordinary |)ris- 
oners of war, but as ti-aitors to Great Biitain. On their 
being sent to be tried for treason in England, Congress 
arou^ed itself in their behalf, and authorized the adoption 
oi' retaliatory measures. An equal numljcr of British cap- 
tives was i)rcsently imprisoned, and when the British 
retorted by ordering twice as many Aniei-ican ollicers into 
confinement, the Americans did the ?ame l)y the Bi-itish 
olficers in tlieir power. The British government went so 
far as to order its commanders, in ca^e any retaliation was 
iiiihcteil ujton the ])risoners in .\meiican hands, to destroy 
the towns and their iidiabitants upon the coast. Jt was at 
this juncture that iMassachusetts, as already alludid to, 
appearerl in the lines of nullllication. All along, there had 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 377 

been very little sympathy, among the opposition, for the 
humane professions of defending the sailor and the stranger, 
upon which the administration party were apt to discourse, 
rather than to act. The federalist majority in Massachu- 
setts, caring little for the fate of the Irish prisoners, forbade 
the use of the state prisons for the British officers now 
ordered to be confined, (February, 1814.) The matter 
was set at rest by the retraction of the British government, 
who consented to treat the Irishmen as prisoners of war. 
Proclamation was made pardoning all past offences of the 
sort, but threatening future ones with the penalties of trea- 
son ; a threat that was never attempted to be fulfilled, 
(July.) So the Americans gained their point, a point for 
which the early settlers had labored, and for which the true 
men of the revolution had struggled — the protection of 
foreigners. 

Indian Somc months after the treaty of Ghent, a treaty 

treaty, ^y^s made with the Indians of the north-west. Such 
as had been at war agreed to bury the tomahawk, and to 
join with such as had been at peace in new relations with 
the United States, (September.) 

Aigerine Another treaty had been made by this time. It 
treaty, -^^g y^[i\^ i[jq D^y ^f Algiers, who had gone to war 
with the United States in the same year that Great Britain 
did. The United States, however, had paid no attention to 
the inferior enemy until relieved of the superior. Then 
war was declared, and a fleet despatched, under Commodore 
Decatur, by which captures were made, and terms dictated 
to the Aigerine. The treaty not only surrendered all 
American prisoners, and indemnified all American losses in 
the war, but renounced the claim of tribute on the part of 
Algiers, (June.) Tunis and Tripoli being brought to terms, 
the United States were no longer tributary to pirates. 
32* 



378 IWKT IV. 1797-18.30. 

.„ . Tliero had bcon stnn«rtli ('noiijili to deal tlie blow 

tiunofthcap^iinst Al^'iiTs. IJut tlic iiatioH was in a state of 
nation. , , ^ , . ,,,, . , 

lu-arly i'ompk'tt' cxliaiistioii. 1 lii> remark is not 

meant to apply to individual cases of embarrassment and 

destitntion pr()ilu('<'d by the war; for wliih' many had lost, 

a^ many more had gained a competence or a fortnn*'. But 

tlie natitjn, as a whole, was, for the moment, exliaustetl. 

Madison had been reelected president, with Kll»rid«re Gerry 

a.s vice president, in the first year of the wai- with Great 

Britain. If he really con.sented to war as the price of his 

reelection, he had had his reward. The difficulties of his 

second term, more serious than tho.se of any other admini.s- 

tration in our history, weighed upon him, crushed him. He 

welcomed peace, as his party welcomed it, — in fact, as the 

wliole nation welcomed it, — with the same sensations of 

relief that men would feel in an earthquake, when the 

earth, yawning at their feet, suddenly closed. To see from 

what the government and the nation Avere saved, it is 

sulficiiMit to read that systems of conscription for the army 

and of imj)i-essnient for the navy were amongst the projects 

pending at the close of a war which had increased the 

public debt by one hundred and twenty millions. 



CHAPTER III. 

Missouri Compromise. 

Foreign The idea that the United States emerged from 
affairs, ^j^g contest with Great Britain as a new nation, its 
citizens self-satisfied, and strangers apj^lauding, is certainly a 
grateful one. But it is difficult to find the authority upon 
which it rests. To begin with foreign powers, and with the 
one most Hkely to be impressed with American grandeur 
— Great Britain ; she appears absorbed in other interests 
of much larger importance in her eyes. A commercial 
convention was framed in the summer following the peace ; 
but it left many matters undetermined, many unsatisfactorily 
determined. As for the negotiations ordered by the treaty 
of Ghent, they were begun upon, yet so idly, that conclu- 
sions were not reached for years and years. Other nations 
shoAved even less inclination to come to terms. France, 
Spain, Naples, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden 
were all in arrears on the score of indemnities for spoliations 
upon American commerce ; and most of them remained in 
arrears until a subsequent period. An act of Congress 
invited maritime powers to abandon the restrictions hitherto 
placed upon com^merce ; but the invitation was by no means 
generally accepted, (March, 1815.) 

Domestic -^^ houic, affiiirs were in an equally unsettled 
affairs, gtatc. The war establishment was lowered ; a new 
tariff was adopted at once, to increase the revenue of the 
government, and to encourage the industry of the people ; 

(379) 



380 PART IV. 1 707-1 8.>0. 

tlie system of taxation was rt'foriiu'tl by tho jiradual abuli- 
tion of direct and internal taxes. To aid in restorin;^ tlie 
currency, and in directing the iinances «;eneraliy, a new 
liank of tlie United States was chartered, (March, IJ^IG.) 
All this was not done in a <lay ; nor wius there ahy instanta- 
neous revival of eonunerce and of industry. On the con- 
trary, periods of de|)ression recuired, in which individual 
fortunes vani.-hcd and national resources failed. l)Ut the 
general tendency was towards recovery from the disorders 
into which the country had been plunged by the recent war. 
A.iininis- Madisou's troubled administration came to an 
tratious. ^^^j^ JauK'S Mouroc was the j)resident tor the next 
eight years, (1817-25,) with Daniel I). Tonii)kins as vice 
president. Monroe, once an extreme, but latterly a moder- 
ate republican, so far conciliated all i)arties as to be reelect- 
ed with but one electoral vote against him. Old parties 
were dying out. The great question of the j)eriod, to be 
set forth presently, was one with which republicans and 
federalists, as such, had nothing to do. 

Seminoio The new administration had but just opened, 
war. when the Seminole war, as it was styled, broke 
out with the Creeks of Georgia and Florida. Conflicts 
between the borderers and some of the Indians lingering in 
the territory ceded several years before, led to a determina- 
tion of the United States government to clear the country 
of the hostile tribes, (November, 1817.) A war, of course, 
ensued, beginning with massacres on both sides, and ending 
Avith a s|)oiling, burning, slaying expedition, half militia 
and half Indians, under General Jackson, the coujpieror 
of the Creeks in the preceding war, (March, 1818.) On 
the pretext that the Spanish authorities countenanced the 
hostilities of the Indians, Jackson took St. Mark's and Pen- 
sacola, not without some ideas of seizing even St. Augus- 
tine, lie also put to death, within the S})anish limits, two 



MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 381 

British subjects accused of stirring up the Indians, (March, 
May.) So that the war, though called the Seminole, might 
as well be called the Florida war. The Spanish minister 
protested against the invasion of the Florida territory, of 
which the restitution was immediately ordered at Washing- 
ton, though not without approbation of the course pursued 
by Jackson. 
. . . Florida was a sore spot on more accounts than 

Acquisi- A 

tion of one. The old trouble of boundaries had never 
been settled ; but that was a trifle compared with 
the later troubles arising from fugitive criminals, fugitive 
slaves, smugglers, pirates, and, as recently shown, Indians, 
to whom Florida furnished not only a refuge, but a starting 
point. The Spanish authorities, themselves by no means 
inchned to respect their neighbors of the United States, 
had no power to make others respect them. " This coun- 
try," said President Monroe, referring to Florida, " had, in 
fact, become the theatre of every species of lawless adven- 
ture." Matters there were not improved by the uncertain 
relations still continuing between the United States and 
Spain. Former difficulties, especially those upon American 
indemnities, were not settled ; while new ones had gathered 
in consequence of South American revolutions, and North 
American dispositions to side with the revolutionists. The 
proposal of an earlier time to purchase Florida was renewed 
by the United States. Its acceptance was impeded chiefly 
by differences on the boundary between Louisiana and the 
Spanish Mexico, but this being settled to begin at the 
Sabine River, a treaty was concluded. On the payment 
of five millions by the American government to citizens 
who claimed indemnity from Spain, that power agreed to 
relinquish the Floridas, East and West, (February 22, 
1819.) It was nearly two yeai-s, however, before Spain 
ratified the treaty, and fully two before Florida Territory 
formed a part of the United States, (1821.) 



r)82 TART TV. 1 707-1 S.-,0. 

New I'l"' ^tiiti' of Coiinrdictit, liilli« rto coiitciit with 

Htatos. ]„.,. t-l, alter frovenimciit. al IciilmIi a<lo|)t(d :i new 
constitution, in wiiicli there Avas Init httle inj|)rovenient upon 
the old one, except in niakiuL' suilra;:!' jxeiieial and tlie sup- 
jxii't ot" a chui-ch -ystcni \()hnitary, (LSls.j New constitu- 
tions and new states were constantly in process of" ibrma- 
tion. Indiana, (l)«*cenil)er 11, ISIO,) Mississippi, (December 
1(1, 1S17,) Illinois, (Deceniber3, 1818,) and Alabama,* (De- 
cember 14, 1819,) all became members of the Union. 

Before the delinite accession of Alabama, Mis- 

rrol.os;il 

of Mis- souri was proposed as a candidate for admission. It 
was a slaveholding territory. l>ut when tiie pre- 
liminary steps to its becoming a state were beLrun upon in 
Congress, a New York representative, James AV. Tall- 
madge, moved that no more slaves should be brought in, 
and that the children of those already there should be lib- 
erated at the age of twenty-five. On the failure of this 
motion; another New York representative, John AV. Taylor, 
moved to prohibit slavery in the entire territory to the 
north of latitude 3G° 30'. This, too, was lost. A bill set- 
ting off the portion of Missouri Territory to the south of 
the line just named, as the Territory of Arkansas, was 
])assed. But nothing was done towards establishing the 
State of ]\Iissouri, (February, IMarch, 1810.) 
Question Nothing, unless it were the debate, in which the 
of slavery. qy(.^^iQj^ at issue became clear. There were two 
reasons, it.then appeared, for making Missouri a free state; 
one, that it was the turn for a free state, the last (Ala- 
bama) f having been a slave state; while, of the eight 
admitted since the Constitution, four had been free and four 

* The eastern half of tlic Mississippi Territory became the Territory of 
Alabama in 1817. 

t Not yet actually admit ted, but authorized to apjjly for admission in 
the usual way. 



MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 383 

slave states. Another and a broader reason was urged, to 
the effect that slavery ought not to be permitted in any state 
or territory where it could be prohibited. On this, the 
northern views were the more earnest, in that the nation 
had committed itself by successive acts to a course too tol- 
erant, if not too favorable, towards slavery. First, it will 
be recollected, came the organization of the Territory South 
of the Ohio ; next, that of the Mississippi Territory ; and 
afterwards, the acquisition and the organization of Louisi- 
ana. All these proceedings were national, and all either 
acknowledged or extended the area of slavery. Kentucky 
had been admitted a slave state as a part of Virginia ; Mis- 
sissippi and Alabama as parts of the Mississippi Territory. 
To carry out the same course twould have insured the ad- 
mission of Missouri as a part of the Louisiana acquisition ; 
and on this the southern members strongly insisted. To 
this, on the contrary, the north demurred, determined, if 
possible, to stop the movement that had thus far prevailed. 
A good deal of discussion arose on the point of 
tiouai ar- the treaty by which Louisiana had been acquired, 
gument. rj^j-^-^^ argucd ouc party, by investing the inhabitants 
of the Louisiana Territory with all the rights of United 
States citizens, secures their privileges as slaveholders ; a 
position, of course, opposed by northern men. But much 
greater stress w^as laid on the constitutional argument 
hinted at in a former connection. The proposal to obhge 
Missouri to become a free state, said the advocates of sla- 
very, is a violation of the Constitution. That sovereign 
authority, they declared, leaves the state itself in all cases 
to settle the matter of slavery, as well as all other matters 
not expressly subjected to the general government. To 
this a twofold answer was returned : jfirst, that Missouri 
was not a state, but a territory, and therefore subject to the 
control of Congress ; and, second, that even if regarded as a 



381 TART IV. 17;)7-KS.30. 

State, she would not be uiu- (»i' tin* original thirteen, to which 
alone belongeil the powers reserved inider the Ctnistitution. 
Therefore Congress could deal with her as it pleased. It 
was moreover argued that Congress ought to arrest the 
progress of slavery, as a point upon which the national wel- 
fare was staked ; a point, therefore, to which the authority 
of the general government was expressly and indispensably 
applicable according to the Constitution. 

Arguments so divergent, and principles so oppo- 
VNOM. 18. ^.^^^ lis those which have been sketched, show that 
there were two sides in the controversy. Other considc," ra- 
tions were urged. One in particular was brought forward 
by the slave state party, that the slaves, as well as the free- 
men of the nation, were entitled to profit by its increase ; in 
short, that humanity re([uired tlie extension of slavery. 
Eciually extreme opinions were preferred on the opposing 
side. In thus stating the various turns given to the ques- 
tion, we have gone somewhat beyond the limits of the ori- 
ginal debate. It was not till a later tune that many of the 
positions were so decisively taken as has been described. 
But the points involved in them were clear from the 
beginninfj;. 

Intense ll'dd it bccn an outbreak of hostilities, had it been 
agitation, r^ marcli of one half the country against the other, 
there could hardly have been a more intense agitation. 
The attempted prohibition of slavery was denounced in 
Congress as the preliminary to a negro massacre, to a civil 
war, to a dissolution of the Union. Out of Congress, it pro- 
voked such language as that used by the aged Jefferson : 
"•The Missouri question," he wrote, ''is a breaker on which 
we lose the Missouri country Ly revolt, and what more 
God only know.s. From the battle of Bunker's Hill to the 
treaty of Paris, we never had so ominous a question." 
Public meetings were held ; those at the south to rejxd the 



MISSOURI co:mpiiomise. 385 

interference of the north, those at the north to rebuke the 
pretensions of the south. The arguments of Congress, 
repeated again and again, kept up the ferment. It was not 
the mere agitator, however, whether poKtician or philan- 
thropist, \jho took the lead ; grave men, men of years and 
of honors, entered into the lists on both sides. The dispute 
extended into the tribunals and the legislatures of the states, 
the northern declaring that Missouri must be for freemen 
only, the southern that it must be for freemen and for 
slaves. 

Maine ^^ stood the matter as the year drew to a close 

seeks ad- and Congress reassembled. A new turn was then 
mission, gj^gj^ ^^^ ^Yie question, by the application of Maine 
to be received as a state, Massachusetts having consented to 
the separation. Here, then, is the free state to match with 
Alabama, exclaimed the partisans of slavery in Missouri : 
now give us our slave state. But the opponents of slavery 
did not yield ; they had planted themselves on principles, 
they said, not on numbers. At this the south was naturally 
indignant. It had been a plea all along that a free state 
was due to the north ; and now, when one was forthcoming, 
two were claimed. If the reply was made that Maine, 
being but a division of Massachusetts, was no addition to 
the northern strength, this did not content the south. Feel- 
ings of bitterness and of injustice were aroused between 
both parties ; both drew farther apart. If peace did not 
come, war would, and that soon. 

The com- The Senate united Maine and Missouri in the 
promise, game bill and on the same terms, that is, without 
any restriction upon slavery. But a clause, introduced on 
the motion of Jesse B. Thomas, of Illinois, prohibited the 
introduction of slavery into any portion of the Louisiana 
Territory as yet unorganized, leaving Louisiana the state 
and Arkansas the territory, as well as Missouri, just what 
33 



38G PART IV. 1797-1850. 

they were, that is, slavehokh'ng. This was the Missouri 
Coniproinise. It came from the north. On the })art of* the 
north, it yiekled the chiim to Missouri as a free state ; on 
the part of the soutli, it yielded the claim to the? immensely 
larger regions which stretched above and beyond Mis- 
souri to the Pacific. Tlie line of 30° 30', jjroposed the 
year before, was again })ro})Osed, save only that Missouri, 
though north of the line, was to be a vSoiithern State. Thus 
the Senate determined, not without 0})position from both 
sides. The House, on the contrary, adopted a bill admit- 
ting Missouri, separately from Maine, and mider the north- 
ern restriction concerning slavery. Words continued to run 
high. Henry Clay, still in the House, wrote that the sub- 
ject " engrosses the whole thoughts of the members, and 
constitutes almost the only topic of conversation." But the 
proposal of the Compromise augured the return of tranquil- 
lity. A committee of conference between the two branches 
of Congress led to the agreement of both Senate and House 
upon a bill admitting Missouri, after her constitution should 
be formed, free of restrictions, but prohibiting slavery north 
of the line of 36° 30', (March 3, 1820.) Maine was ad- 
mitted at the same time, (March 3-15.) 

. The Compromise prohibited slavery in the desig- 

interpie- natcd region forever. This was the letter ; but it 
' "^°^' was under different interpretations. When Presi- 
dent Monroe consulted his cabinet upon the question of 
approving the act of Congress, all but his secretary of state, 
John Quincy Adams, inclined to read the prohibition of 
slavery as applying only to the territories, and not to the 
states that might arise within the prescribed boundaries. 
This was not a difference between northern and southern 
views, but one between strict and liberal constructions of 
the Constitution ; the strict construction going against all 
power in Congress to restrict a state, while the liberal took 



MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 387 

the opposite ground. So Avitli otliers besides the cabinet. 
Amongst the very men who voted for the Compromise 
were many, doubtless, who understood it as applying to ter- 
ritories alone. The northern party, unquestionably, adopted 
it in its broader sense, preventing the state as well as the 
territory from establishing slavery. That there should be 
two senses attached to it from the beginning was a dark 
presage of future differences. 

Present differences were not yet overcome. Mis- 
sion of souri, rejoicing in becoming a slaveholding state, 
issouri. ^^j^p^g^ ^ constitution which denied even free ne- 
groes the rights of citizens. On this being brought before 
Congress towards the close of the year, (1820,) various tac- 
tics were adopted ; the extreme southern party going for 
the immediate admission of the state, while the extreme 
northern side urged the overthrow of state, constitution, 
and Compromise, together. Henry Clay, at the head of 
the moderate men, succeeded, after long exertions, in carry- 
ing a measure providing for the admission of Missouri as 
soon as her legislature should solemnly covenant the rights 
of citizenship to " the citizens of either of the states,'* 
(February, 1821.) This was done, and Missouri became a 
state, (August 10.) 

Slave The United States, as a nation, were far from 

trade. insensible to the evils of slavery. Domestic slave 
trade was permitted and extended. But foreign slave trade, 
reviving to such a degree that upwards of fourteen thousand 
slaves were said to have been imported in a single year, 
(1818,) provoked general indignation. An act of Congress 
declared fresh and severer penalties to attach to the slave 
dealer, while to his unhappy victims relief was offered in 
provisions for their return to their native country, (1819.) 
Another act denounced the traffic as piracy, (1820.) The 
same denunciation was urged upon foreign governments, 



3S8 TAUT IV. 1 707-1 aOO. 

oiiL' of ■wliit'h, Groat Britain, }>n'|):n-t'(l to ontor into a con- 
vention for the purpose; but tli«^ convention idl tlirough, 
(1823-24.) 

Visit of i'^ ^^^^ midst of its dissensions and its weaknesses, 

Liifioctto. ^]„. jijition was cheered by a visit from Lafayette. 
He came in compliance with a sunmions from the p^overn- 
ment to behold the work which he had assisted in begin- 
ning, near half a century before. From the day of his 
landing (August IG, 1824) to that of his departure, (Sep- 
tember 7, 1825,) a period of more than a year, he was, as 
lie described himself, " in a whirlwind of popular kindnesses 
of which it was hnpossible to have formed any previous 
conception, and in which every thing that could touch and 
flatter one was mingled." " A more interesting spectacle, 
it is believed," said President Monroe, "was never wit- 
nessed, because none could be founded on purer principles, 
none proceed from higher or more disinterested motives." 
To make some amends for his early sacrifices, pecuniary as 
^vell as personal, in the American cause, Congress voted 
Lafayette a township of the public domain, and a grant of 
two lumdred thousand dollars. He deserved all that could 
be bestowed. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Monroe Doctrine. 

Relations ^T was time for the nation to assume a more 
withCen- elevated attitude. No longer the solitary republic 
South amidst encompassing domains of distant monarchies, 
America, ^j^^ United States now formed one of a band of 
independent states, stretching from Canada to Patagonia. 
The others were the Central and South American colonies 
of Spain, which had spent years in insurrection and in war, 
before their independence was recognized by their elder 
sister of the north, (1822.) Ministers plenipotentiary were 
at the same time appointed to Mexico, Colombia, Buenos 
Ayres, and Chili. 

Monroe As if to make amends for its delay, the adminis- 
doctrine. tration rcsolvcd upon stretching out an arm of 
defence between the nascent states of the south and the 
threatening powers of Europe. The purpose of the Euro- 
pean allies, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, to come 
to the assistance of Spain, in subduing her insurgent colo- 
nies, was well known, when President Monroe, in his 
seventh annual message, (December 2, 1823,) announced 
that his administration had asserted in negotiations with 
Russia, " as a principle in which the rights and interests of 
the United States are involved, that the American conti- 
nents, by the free and independent position which they have 
assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered 
as subjects for future colonization by any European pow- 
33* 



3i)0 l^ART IV. 1797-18-50. 

crs." " ^Ye owe it," contiimed llio prcsitlcnt, "to candor 
aiul to the aniirable ri'lalioiis I'xistin^ hctween the United 
States and tliose powers, to deelare that we should consider 
any attempt on their part to extend their system to any por- 
tion of tliis iieniisphere as dangerous to our peace and 
safety. AVith the existing colonies or de})enden('ies of any 
European power we have not interfered, and sliall not 
interfere. But witli the governments wlio have deehired 
tlie.i' independence, and maintained it, and whose independ- 
ence we have on great consideration and on just principles 
acknowledged, we could not view any interjMsition for the 
purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other 
manner their destiny by any European power, in any other 
light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition 
towards the United States." Such was wdiat has since bi'en 
called the Monroe Doctrine, though the author is known to 
have been the secretary of state, John Qiiincy Adams, 
rather than the president. 

Its purpose was evidently twofold, directed gen- 
Purpose. gj.j^]iy against any interference with the American 
continents on the part of Europe, except where Europe 
already possessed a foothohl, and more particularly against 
the interference with which Europe, or a portion of it, was 
then menacing the republics of Central and Southern 
America. But far from its being intended to make the 
United States themselves the guardians or the rulers of 
America, the doctrine, as expounded by its real author, 
Adams, proposed " that each [American state] will guard 
by its own means against the establishment of any future 
P^uropean colony witliin its borders." The declaration of 
the president was designed simply to show that the nation 
undertook to countenance and to support the indejjendence 
of its sister nations. As such, it was an honorable deed. 
" The tone which it uttered," said Daniel Webster, in the 



THE MONROE DOCTRINE. 391 

House of Representatives, two years afterwards, " found a 
corresponding response in the breasts of the free people of 
the United States." Congress, however, declined to sustain 
it by any formal action. 
_ Some time afterwards, when the author of the 

Congress ^ 

of Pan- Monroe Doctrine had risen to the presidency, an 
^™*' invitation was received by the government from 
some of the Central and South American states to unite in 
a congress at Panama. The objects, ranging from mere 
commercial negotiations up to the Monroe Doctrine, were 
rather indefinite ; but Adams appointed two envoys, whom 
the Senate confirmed, and for whom the House made the 
necessary appropriations, though not without great opposi- 
tion, (December, 1825 — March, 1826.) One of the en- 
voys died, the other did not go uj^on his mission ; so that 
the congress began and ended without any representation 
from the United States, (June — July.) It adjourned to 
meet at Tacubaya, near Mexico, in the beginning of the 
following year. The ministers of the United States repaired 
to the appointed place, and at the apiDointed time, but there 
was no congress. 

Thus terminated the vision of an American 

An 

American leaguc. We cau hardly estimate the consequences 
oague. ^^ ^^^ having been realized — on one side, the 
perils to which the United States would have been exposed, 
and on the other, the services which they might have 
rendered, amongst such confederates as those of Central 
and of South America. 



Admin- 



CHAPTER V. . 

Tariff CoMrnoMiSE. 

John Quincy Adams, the son of the second 
istra- president, was elected by the House of Repres(ni- 
tatives — tlie electoral colleges failing to make a 
choice — to succeed Monroe, (1825.) Andrew Jackson, a 
rival candidate, was chosen by the people at the next elec- 
tion, (1829.) John C. Calhoun was vice president under 
both. Two men more unlike than Adams and Jackson, in 
associations and in principles, could hardly have been found 
amongst the politicians of the period. They resembled 
each other, however, in the resolution with which they met 
the dangers of their times. 

Question '^^^ great question before the country for several 
before the years was One as old as the Constitution; older, 
"" ^^' even, inasmuch as it occupied a chief ])lace in the 
debates of the Constitutional Convention. It was the 
subordination of the state to the nation. 
Geor a '^'^^ ^^^^ occasion to rcvive the question, and to 
contro- invest it with fresh importance, was a controversy 
^'^"^^' between the national government and the govern- 
ment of Georgia. Many years had passed since that state 
consented to cede her western lands, including the present 
Alabama and Mississippi, on condition that the government 
would extinguish the Indian title to the territory of Georgia 
itself. Of twenty-five millions of acres then held by the 
Creek nation, fifteen had been bought up by the United 

(392) 



TARIFF COMPROMISE. 393 

States, and transferred to Georgia. Half of the remaining 
ten millions belonged to the Cherokees, and half to the 
Creeks, a nominal treaty with the latter of whom declared 
the United States possessors of all the Creek territory with- 
in the limits both of Georgia and of Alabama, (1825.) This 
treaty, however, agreed to by but one or two of the chiefs, 
provoked a general outbreak on the part of the Creeks. 
To pacify them, or rather to do common justice to them, the 
government first suspended the treaty, and then entered 
into a new one, by which the cession of land was confined 
to the Georgian territory. A longer time was also allowed 
for the removal of the Indians from the ceded country, 
(April, 1826.) What satisfied the Creeks dissatisfied the 
Georgians or their authorities; Governor Troup accused 
the administration of violating the law of the land, in the 
shape of the earlier treaty, hinting at anti-slavery motives 
for the course that had been taken, and calling upon the 
adjoining states to " stand by their arms." Not confining 
himself to protests or defensive measures, Troup sent sur- 
veyors into the Indian territory. President Adams com- 
municated the matter to Congress, asserting his intention 
*' to enforce the laws, and fulfil the duties of the nation by 
all the force committed for that purpose to his charge." 
Whereat the governor wrote to the secretary of war, 
" From the first decisive act of hostility, you will be con- 
sidered and treated as a public enemy," (1827.) Fortu- 
nately, the winds ceased. The state that had set itself 
against the nation more decidedly than had ever yet been 
done returned to its senses. As for the unhappy Indians, 
not only the Creeks, but all the other tribes that could be 
persuaded to move, were gradually transported to more 
distant territories in the west. 

Other causes were operating to excite the states, 

Tariffs. „ , . , , 

or some oi them, agamst the general government. 



394 PART IV. l7i)7-ia-30. 

Amidst tlu' vicissitiidi'S of industry and of trade through 
which the nation \\as passing, repeated attempts were made 
to steady affairs by a series of tariffs in favor of domestic 
l)ro(hu'tions. The first measure, intended to serve for pro- 
tection rather tlian for revenue, was adopted at the Ix'gin- 
ning of the period embraced in a previous chajjter, (181 G.) 
It was a duty, principally, upon cotton fabrics from abroad. 
Some years afterwards, a ncAV scale was framed, witli pro- 
vision against foreign woollens, as well as cottons, (1824.) 
This not turning out as advantageous to tlie home manufac- 
tures as was anti('ii)ated, an effort for additional protection 
was made ; but at first in vain. On one side were the 
manufacturers, not merely of cotton and of woollen goods, 
but of iron, hemp, and a variety of other materials, clus- 
tered in the Nortliern and Central States. On the other 
were the merchants, the fjirmers, and the artisans of the 
same states, with almost the entire population of the agri- 
cultural south. A convention of the manufiicturing inter- 
ests, attended by delegates from New P^ngland, the Middle 
States, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, was held 
at Ilarrisburg, in Pennsylvania. " We want protection," 
was the language used by the delegates, " and it matters 
not if it amounts to prohibition ; " in which spirit they 
pressed what they called the American System upon the 
federal government, (July — August, 1827.) The admin- 
istration, by the report of the secretary of the treasury, 
commended the subject to the favorable attention of Con- 
gress. Tliat body took it up, and after protracted discus- 
sions, consented to a tariff in which the system of protec- 
tion was carried to its height. Its adversaries called the 
bill a bill of abominations, many of which, however, were 
introduced by themselves, with the avowed intention of 
making the measure as odious and as short lived as possible, 
(December, 1827 — May, 1828.) 



TARIFF COMPROMISE. 395 

All the interests of the north were by no means 
tion at consulted by the recent tariff. Meetings had been 
*^® held to prevent its passage ; nor was it received, 

when passed, without murmurs and remonstrances. 
But it was in the south that the flames burst forth most 
violently. State rights, the relations of master and slave, 
— as well as the cotton market, — principles and inter- 
ests of every sort were declared to be threatened. While 
the tariff was in abeyance, South Carolina instructed her 
representatives to oppose the bill, taking care that " the 
state should appear as a sovereign, not as a suppliant." 
After the bill became a law. South Carolina pronounced it 
unconstitutional ; so did Georgia ; so did Virginia ; in fact, 
it was a trial among the states which should precipitate 
itself the deepest into nullification. The administration 
stood firm. " To the voice of just complaint," the president 
had said, " from any portion of their constituents, the repre- 
sentatives of the states and people will never turn away 
their ears. But so long as the duty of the foreign shall 
operate only as a bounty upon the domestic article, the 
planter, and the merchant, and the shepherd, and the hus- 
bandman will not denounce, as violations of the Constitution, 
the deliberate acts of Congress to shield the native industry 
of the Union." 

iiemo- Jackson came into office to devote himself at first to 
vais from thosc who had elected him. Never before had the 

nation been under so professedly a party rule. Its 
subjection was proved by the reinovals from office of such 
as had served under the previous administrations. In all 
the forty years that had elapsed since the opening of the 
government, the successive presidents had removed just 
sixty-four public officers, and no more. Jackson turned out 
the servants of government by the hundred. This imprint- 
ing a partisan character upon the administration was far 



390 PART IV. 1797-18.30. 

IVom Ix'ing unacceptable to the majority of the nalion. It 
was but just, they argued, that the inferior officei-s should 
be of the same views as the superior ; otherwise there 
could be no harmony. A great deal of stress, moreover, 
was laid u})on the necessity of reforming the administra- 
tion; the alleged extravagance of Adams's time having been 
sounded all over the land by the partisans of Jackson. 
The clamor of the opposition against either cause of 
removal can be conceived. 

„ j^^^^ The great (piestion between the power of the 

sions to state and the power of the nation was still open. 
cor-ia. j^^^^.j.^Qj-j entered into it wutli concessions to the state. 
When the Creeks of Georgia were disposed of, there still 
remained the Chcrokees of the same and the neighboring 
states. This tribe, far from being inclined to leave its 
habitations, was so much inclined to settling where it was, 
as to adopt a formal constitution, (1827.) At this, Georgia 
lost patience, and asserted her jurisdiction over the Chero- 
kees, at the same time dividing their territory, and annex- 
ing it in portions to the counties of the state, (1828-30.) 
Much the same course was taken by Alabama and 
Mississippi in relation to the Indians within their borders, 
(1829-30.) In these circumstances, the position of the gen- 
eral government was this — that it had always undertaken 
to treat with the Indians, to protect or to molest them, as 
the case might be ; but in no event leaving them to the 
action of any separate part of the nation. Instead of 
maintaining this position in relation to the southern Indians, 
the president, supported by Congress, yielded it altogether, 
upon the ground that the Cherokee constitution was the 
erection of a new state within the limits of Georgia and 
Alabama. It would have been well had Georgia contented 
herself with the Indians thus surrendered to her. But she 
must needs interfere with the whites, the very missionaries 



TARIFF COMPROMISE. 397 

of the Indian territory, and imprison them in her peniten- 
tiary for not taking the oath of allegiance which she de- 
manded, (1831.) Their case was carried before the United 
States Supreme Court, which decided agamst the course of 
Georgia with regard to both missionaries and Indians, 
(1832.) But the Indians obtained no redress ; nor did tlie 
missionaries, until they abandoned their proceedings against 
the sovereign state, (1833.) 

^^^.^ More serious points in relation to the question 

ques- between the states and the general government had 

arisen. The first message of President Jackson 
(December, 1829) suggested a modification of the tariff 
adopted the year before. It was another concession, on his 
part, to the state claims. But it was not made without 
cause. The system of protection, once opposed and favored 
by the north and by the south together, had come to be a 
favorite of the north, and an object of opposition to the 
south. Emigration from the older to the newer states, 
followed by a depreciation in the value of the lands lono- 
settled, had greatly affected southern interests, much more 
so than the tariff, to which every reverse was apt to be 
ascribed. But the apparent cause was just as effectual in 
kindling excitement as if it had been the real one. The 
south and the north were set against each other ; it was a 
fresh strife of sections, full of peril to the nation. Presi- 
dent Jackson adverted to it in recommending a considera- 
tion of the tariff. At once the questions of the former 
administration revived. But the result for the present, so 
far as the tariff was concerned, consisted in a few unim2:)or- 
tant modifications, (May, 1830.) 

At the same time, a resolution before the Senate 
resoiu- was indefinitely postponed, after having elicited a 
tion: remarkable debate upon the points at issue before 

the country. It had been brought forward by Sen- 
34 



308 PART IV. 17i)7-18.30. 

ator Foot, oi ConiK'cticiit, just at tlu; close of the previous 
year, (December 2'J, 1829,) with a view to some arrange- 
ment concerning the sale of the public lands. But the 
public lands were soon lost sight of in a discussion involv- 
ing the relative powers of the states and tlie national gov- 
ernment. Robert Y. Ilayne, a senator from South Carolina, 
took the ground that a state possessed the riglit of nullify- 
ing any act of Congress which it should consider unconsti- 
tutional, inasmuch as the government, whereof Congress 
was a part, resulted from a com})act amongst the states. 
The opposite theory, that the government was established 
by the people of the United States as a whole, and not by 
the states as separate members, was taken chiefly by Daniel 
Webster, some years before a representative of his native 
New Hampshire, at present a senator from his ado})ted 
Massachusetts. The great speech of Webster (January 
2G-27, 1830) was, without contradiction, the ablest i)lea 
that had ever been made for the national character, as well 
as the national government. It decided the fact, so far as 
argument in the Senate chamber could do, that the general 
government, in its proper functions, is independent of all 
local institutions. As a necessary consequence, the claim 
of a state to nullify an act of Congress fell to the ground. 
The same doctrine was advocated by Madison, first amongst 
the survivors of those wlio had framed the Constitution, 
(August.) " I trust," said AVebster, near the beginning of 
the following year, " the crisis has in some measure passed 
by." It was not the last time, however, that he had to 
raise his powerful voice in the defence of the Constitution, 
itcvision A year or more ela))sed before the subject of the 
of tariff, tariff was called up again. It was then decided by 
Congress and the president to revise the provisions against 
wliieh th(i south was still contending. Without abandoning 
the i)rotectivc system, which, on the contrary, was distinctly 



TARIFF COMPROMISE. 399 

maintained, the duties upon many of the protected articles 
were reduced, in order to satisfy the opponents of protec- 
tion, (July, 1832.) * 

Far from diverting the storm, the action upon the 
cation tariff did but hasten its approach. The South 
ill South Carohna members of Confii;ress addressed their con- 

Carolina. _ ... 

stituents in this wise : " After expressing their 
solemn and deliberate conviction that the protecting system 
must now be regarded as the settled policy of the country, 
and that all hope of relief from Congress is irrecoverably 
gone, they leave it with you, the sovereign power of the 
state, to determine whether the rights and liberties which 
you received as a precious inheritance from an illustrious 
ancestry shall be tamely surrendered without a struggle, or 
transmitted undiminished to your posterity." The tempest 
that ensued was prodigious, considering the limited sphere 
through which it had to sweep. The legislature of South 
Carohna summoned a convention of the state, which met at 
Columbia, under the presidency of Governor Hamilton, 
(November 19.) A few days sufficed to pass an ordinance 
declaring " that the several acts, and parts of acts, purport- 
ing to be laws for the imposing of duties on importation . . . 
are unauthorized by the Constitution of the United States, 
and violate the true intent and meaning thereof, and are 
null and void, and no law, nor binding upon the State of 
South Carolina, its officers and citizens ; . . . and that 
it shall be the duty of the legislature to adopt such measures 
and pass such acts as may be necessary to give full eifect 
to this ordinance, and to prevent the enforcement and arrest 
the operation of the said acts, and parts of acts, of the 
Congress of the United States within the limits of the 
state," (November 24.) 

In all this there was nothing new to the nation. 

Secession. . 

From the time when Kentucky and Virginia began 



400 PART IV. 1707-18,50. 

upon a smiiliir course, Ironi the lime when Massachusetts 
and Connecticut continued it, down to the more recent acts 
of Georgia and of South Carolina lierself, nullification, in 
nominal if not in actual existence, had stalked throughout 
the land. A state that felt itself aggrieved hy the general 
government was very apt to take to resolutions, often to 
j)ositive statutes, against the laws or the measures of the 
I'nion. But South Carolina went further than any of her 
j)redecessors. " We, the people of South Carolina," con- 
cluded the ordinance of the convention, " do further declare 
that we will not submit to the application of force, on the 
part of the federal government, to reduce this state to 
obedience, but that we will consider the passage by Con- 
gress of any act ... to enforce the acts hereby de- 
clared to be null and void, otherwise than through the civil 
tribunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer 
continuance of South Carolina in the Union ; and that the 
people of this state . . . will forthwith proceed to 
organize a separate government." This was something 
more than nullification ; it was secession. 
Ko8oiu- It has been very common to exclaim against the 
South^ conduct of South Carolina. But with the princij)les 
CuroUua. whicli slic profcsscd, su})i)orting the claims of the 
state to be a sovereign member of a national confederacy, 
it is difficult to see how she could have acted otherwise. If 
we would censure any thing, it must be the princi})les which 
led to nullification and to secession, rather than these, the 
mere and the inevitable results. In itself, as an instance 
of resolution against what was deemed injustice and oppres- 
sion, the attitude of South Carolina is no object of indigna- 
tion. On the contrary, there is something thrilling in the 
aspect of a people j)erilling their all to sustain their rights, 
even though they were mistidcen as to what their rights 
really were " The die has been at last cast," the governor 



TARIFF COMPROMISE. 401 

informed the legislature, assembled a day or two after the 
adoption of the ordinance by the convention, " and South 
Carolina has at length appealed to her ulterior sovereignty 
as a member of this confederacy. . . . That it brings 
up a juncture of deep and momentous interest, is neither to 
be concealed nor denied." The legislature unhesitatingly 
responded to the convention in a series of acts prohibiting 
the collection of duties, and providing for the employment 
of volunteers, or, if need were, of the entire mihtia, in the 
defence of the state. 

If the state was resolute, the general government 
tion^of ^'^^ ^^ l^s^ ^^* '^^® president was in his element. 
govern- A crisis wliich he was eminently adapted to meet 
had arrived. It called forth all his independence, 
all his nationality. Other men — more than one of liis pred- 
ecessors — would have doubted the course to be pursued ; 
they would have staid to inquire into the powers of the 
Constitution, or to count the resources of the government ; 
nay, had they been consistent, they would have inclined 
to the support, rather than to the overthrow, of the South 
Carolina doctrine. Jackson did not waver an instant. He 
took his own counsel, as he was wont to do, and declared 
for the nation against the state ; then ordered troops and a 
national vessel to the support of the government officers in 
South Carolina. " No act of violent opposition to the laws 
has yet been committed, •" — thus the president declared in 
a proclamation ; " but such a state of things is hourly appre- 
hended ; and it is the intent of this instrument to proclaim 
not only that the duty imposed on me by the Constitution, 
to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, shall be 
performed, . . . but to warn the citizens of South Car- 
olina . . . that the course they are urged to pursue is 
one of ruin and disgrace to the very state whose right they 
affect to support," (December.) The appeal to the South 
34* 



402 VMIT IV. 1797-18.)0. 

Carolinians was the more forcible in t'xjniing from one of 
themselves, as it were; Jackson being a native of their 
state. Athlressing Congress in an elaborate message, (Jan- 
nary 10, l«o3,) the })resident argued down both nuUiliea- 
tion and secession, maintaining that " the result of each is 
the same; since a state in which, by a usurpation of jK)wer, 
the constitutional authority of the federal government is 
openly ilelied and set aside, wants only tlie form to be inde- 
pendent of the Union." He then proceeded to recount the 
measures which he had takgn, and to propose those which 
he considered it necessary ibr Congress to take. Congress 
responded, after some delay, by an enforcing act, the pri- 
mary object of which was to secure the collection of the 
customs in the South Carolina ports. Thus united stood 
the government in sustaining itself against the state by 
"which it was defied. 
-, , Kor did it stand alone. One after another, the 

Kesolu- ' 

tion of States, by legislative or by individual proceedhigs, 
came out in support of the national principle. The 
principle of state sovereignty, that might have found sup- 
port but for the extremity to which it had been pushed, 
seemed to be abandoned. South Carolina was left to her- 
self, even by h<'r neighbors, usually })rone to take the same 
side. Only Vii'ginia came; forward, ajipealing to the gov- 
ernment as well as to South Carolina to be done with strife. 
As if to show her symj)athy for the cause of the state, Vir- 
ginia appointed a commissioner to convey her sentiments to 
the people of South Carolina. Otherwise the states ranged 
themselves distinctly, though not all actively, on the side of 
the nation. 

^^^.^. But on one point there was a decided reservation 

r-pinpro- willi niMny of the states. The tariff was openly 

condemned l)y North Carolina, Alabama, and 

Georgia; the last state })i-oj>o.-ing a southern convention, to 



TARIFF COMPROMISE. 403 

take some measures of resistance to the continuance of a 
system so unconstitutional. It became plainer and plainer, 
that if South Carolina was to be brought to terms by any 
other way than by force, or if her sister states of the south 
were to be kept from joining her sooner or later, it must be 
by some modification of the tariff. A bill was brought for- 
ward in the House, but without any immediate result. 
Henry Clay took the matter up in the Senate. He had 
distinguished himself as the advocate of the Missouri Com- 
promise. He was the author, in consultation with others, 
of the tariff compromise. This proposed that the duties on 
all imports exceeding twenty per cent, should be reduced 
to that rate by successive diminutions through the next ten 
years, (till June 30, 1842.) « I wish,'* said Clay, « to see 
the tariff separated from the politics of the country, that 
business men may go to work in security, with some pros- 
pect of stability in our laws." Had there been no other 
motive for liis coui-se, this would have been enough to 
stamp it with wisdom. Others felt as he did. Unlike the 
Missouri question, the tariff question was disposed of with- 
out protracted struggles. The advocates of protection 
wrangled against the compromise, as a matter of course ; 
but the measure was supported by very general approval, 
not excepting the representatives of South Carolina, at the 
head of whom was Calhoun, lately surrendering the vice 
presidency in order to represent his state in the Senate. In 
fact, the impossibility of restoring peace by any other means 
was palpable. The compromise became a law, (March 2,) 
and South Carolina returned to her allegiance. "The 
lightning," as one of Clay's correspondents wrote to him, 
was " drawn out from the clouds which were lowering over 
the country." 

Like all other compromises, the tariff compro- 
mise did not bring about an absolute decision of the 



'1 01 PART IV. 1797-18.50. 

j)()ints of controversy. To the opponents of protection it 
abated the amount of protection. To the champions of the 
protective system it secured the right of laying duties, but 
at the same time decided against the expediency, if not the 
right, of excessive duties. In other words, perhaps it may 
be said that tlie compromise gave up prohibiti<jn, but re- 
tained protection. It was not enough to settle the question 
in detail ; yet it was enough to settle the question on broad 
priiicii)k'S. 

As for the subject that lay behind the tariff, not 

On tlio ^ ♦ ' 

gifiit concealed, but overtopj)ing it ])y an immensity of 
qufs on. jj^.jj^jjj^ ^]jj^^ j^^iy^ ^^,.^^ decided in the same general 

way. The subordination of the state to the nation was not 
defined. But it was established on principles which no 
nullification could disturb, and no secession break asunder, 
except in national ruin. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Financial Disorders. 

National Few matters are more important to a nation — 
fiuauce. especially to a money-making nation — than its 
finance. This being in a sound condition, the course of 
government and of the people is so far smoothed and se- 
cured. But if it is disturbed, either by those in authority 
or by those engaged in speculations of their own, the whole 
country suffers. Time and again had these things been 
proved in the United States ; a fresh and a fearful proof 
was soon to occur. 

The administration of Jackson had but just be- 

Veto of *^ 

United, gun, (1829,) when an attempt was made to interfere 
Ban? ^^^^^ *^^® appointments in the United States Bank. 
ciiarter. The resistance of the bank is supposed to have ex- 
cited the displeasure of the president, who, at all events, 
took occasion in his first message to throw out suggestions 
against the renewal of the bank charter, although this was 
not to expire for six or seven years to come. Congress, 
instead of complying with the presidential recommendation, 
showed a decided determination to sustain the bank. The 
next Congress voted to renew the ciiarter, but the president 
immediately interposed with a veto, (July, 1832.) Amidst 
many ^ound objections on his part was mingled much that 
must be set down as prejudice, not to say extravagance ; he 
even went so far as to suppose the bank to be dangerous 
" to our liberty and independence." 

(405) 



406 TART IV. 1797 -ISoO. 

Removal ^^^ coiitc'iit witli Opposing the recliartering of 
oidopos- the bank, the president determined to humble it 

its 

b('for«3 its charter expired. To tliis, it must be con- 
fessed, lie was in some degree goaded by tlie unsparing bit- 
terness witli wliich his veto had been assailed. On (he 
other hand, the triumi)hant reelection of Jackson to the 
j)residency, with his right hand man, Martin Van Buren, 
for vice president, assured him of a support whicth would 
not fail him in any measures he might pursue. In his next 
message, (December, 1832,) he recomuKMuled the removal 
of the treasury deposits from the custody of the bank, but 
without obtaining the cooperation of Congress. Things 
went on as they were until the early autumn W the follow- 
ing year, when (September, 1833) the president announced 
to his cabinet his resolution to remove the deposits on his 
own responsibility, assigning for his principal reasons the 
electioneering procedures against his administration, of 
which the bank was suspected, and the necessity of provid- 
ing for some new method of managing the public revenue 
before the expiration of the charter incapacitated the. bank 
from serving as it had hitherto done. The terms of the 
charter provided that the power of recalling the deposits 
lay with the secretary of the treasury, subject to the condi- 
tion of acquainting Congress with the proceeding — a con- 
dition which the party of the bank interpreted as subjecting 
the question of removal to the approval or disapproval of 
the legislature. The administration and its supporters, on 
the other hand, contended that the power of the secretary 
in the matter did not depend upon the will of Congress, but 
rested with himself, of course under the directions of the 
president. This, however, did not smooth the way; for 
the secretary then in ofRce, William J. Duane, declined to 
have any thing to do with the removal. Two days after- 
wards, he was displaced to make room for Roger B. Taney, 



FINANCIAL DISORDERS. 407 

tlien attorney general, and subsequently chief justice of the 
United States. The new secretary, not sharing the scruples 
of his predecessor, issued the proper order for the removal 
of the deposits at the time indicated by the president, (Oc- 
tober 1.) , 

Of the agitation attending these events it is diffi- 
^^^°°* cult to conceive at this distance of time. If we 
account for the suspicions of the president against the bank, 
there still remain the accusations from the bank and from 
its friends against the president to be explained. Had 
Jackson declared himself the lord and master of the United 
States, there could scarcely have been a greater uproar. It 
vented itself in meetings and in legislative bodies, as usual. 
It broke forth in Congress, especially in the Senate, where, 
at the instigation of Henry Clay, the recent competitor of 
Jackson for the presidency, a resolve was adopted, " That 
the president, in the late executive proceeding in relation to 
the public revenue, has assumed upon himself authority and 
power not conferred by the Constitution and laws, but in 
derogation of both," (March, 1834.) The same day Daniel 
Webster remarked, " If this experiment of the executive 
government is suffered to go on, it will bring us to conse- 
quences nearly touching the powers and continued action 
of this government. . . . Let all who mean to die as 
they live, citizens of a free country, stand together for the 
supremacy of the laws." Against the sentence of the Sen- 
ate, passed upon him without a hearing, the president issued 
a protest, as a " substitute for that defence which," said he, 
" I have not been allowed .to present in the ordinary form," 
(April.) So one extreme led to another, until, near three 
years later, it was made a party measure to expunge from 
the records of the Senate the resolution of censure, (Jan- 
uary, 1837.) 

As for the bank itself, it " waged war," said the president 



408 I'AUT iV. 17l)7-18dO. 

Money aftrnvHi'ds, *" ui)oii tlu' pc'opl«', in order to compel 
troubles, (iij-m to subuiit to its demands." It certainly aj)- 
peared to do so; but the course tnJven by it was (juite as 
much a defensive as an offensive one. The loss of the de- 
posits involved a contraction of k\ans. These contractions 
atVected other banks, which were obliged to curtail their 
own operations, . until credit sank, capitalists failed, and 
laborers ceased to be em[)loyed. All this increased the 
excitement, at first dep«^nding upon party statements and 
constitutional theories. The sufferers turned agauist both 
sides ; a part against the bank, which was represented as a 
monstrous despotism, a part against the president, who Wius 
represented as an equally monstrous despot. We seem to 
read of a nation gone wild, in reading of these things as 
they are told by their contemporaries. 

Surplus . While individuals were suffering, the government 
revalue, ^r^g jj^ r^ state of rcplctiou. Not only was the pub- 
lic debt entirely paid off, (1835,) but a large balance was 
left in the banks to which the public moneys had been 
transferred from the United States Bank. It was resolved 
by the administration to deposit, as the phrase went, all but 
a reserve of five millions with the states, to be used accord- 
ing to their difierent circumstances, (1836.) A sum of 
twenty-eight millions was thus distributed, the states gener- 
ally understanding that the share which each received was 
itvS own, not merely to be employed, but to be retained, 
(1S37.) Nothing was ever recalled by the government, 
great as its eml)arra>sments soon became. 
Abolition- Ii^to the old fissure between the north and the 
ism. south a new wedge was driven during the present 
period. The action, hitherto confined to meetings and me- 
morials, extended itself in publications, pamphlets, and 
newspapers, of which the movemenrts were no longer occa- 
sional, but continuous and systematic, (1832.) This was 



FINANCIAL DISORDERS. 409 

abolitionism, so called from its demands that slavery should 
be abolished, and this immediately, without reference to the 
Constitution or the institutions of the south, to the claims of 
the master or the fortunes of the slave. Whatever its mo- 
tives, its course was professedly unscrupulous, sparing neither 
the interests against which it was directed nor those which 
it was intended to sustain. An immediate reaction arose in 
the north. Meetings were held, mobs were gathered against 
the places where the abolitionists met and the offices whence 
tliey issued their productions, (1834.) Then the tumult 
spread to the south. The mails thither were burdened 
with papers intended to excite a general insurrection, or at 
least a general alarm. As a natural consequence, the post 
offices were broken into, and the obnoxious publications 
destroyed, (1835.) That portion of the south which had 
begun of its own accord to move towards the abolition of 
slavery, was at once arrested; while that other portion, 
always attached to slavery, began to talk of non-intercourse 
and of disunion. The matter was taken up by govern- 
ment, beginning with the president, who recommended a 
law to prohibit the use of the mail for the circulation of 
incendiary documents. So imbittered did Congress be- 
come, as to refuse to receive memorials upon the subject of 
slavery, a subject often before provocative of angry pas- 
sages, but never until now considered too delicate to be 
approached, (1836.) Abolitionism had resulted in con- 
servatism, and that of a stamp as yet unknown to the most 
conservative. 

Indian Relations with the Indians were frequently dis- 

wars. turbed. The process of removing them to the west 
of the IVIississippi continued a cause of disorder and of 
strife. A war with the Sacs and Foxes, under Black 
Hawk, broke out on the north-west frontier, but was soon 
brought to an end by a vigorous campaign on the part of 
35 



410 PART IV. 1707-lSoO. 

the United States trooprf and tlie militia, under Generals 
Scott and Atkinson, (1832.) Anollur war arose with the 
Seminoles, under their chief Osceola, in Florida. It was 
attended by serious losses from the begiiniing, (LSoO.) On 
the junction of the Creeks with the Seminoles, affairs grew 
still worse, the war extending into Georgia and Alabama, 
(1830.) The Creeks were subdued under the directions of 
General Jessup ; but the Seminoles continued in arms 
amidst the thickets of Florida for many years. 

. , Occasional disturbances occurred in foreign rela- 

Disturbetl _ ^ ^ ^ 

forei-n tions, especially respecthig the indemnities still due 
re a ions. ^^ account of spoliations of American commerce. 
These were gradually arranged; Denmark (1830) and 
Naples (1834) meeting the claims of long standing against 
them ; the more recent demands agauist Portugal and 
Spain being also satisfied, though not by inunediate pay- 
ments, (1832, 1834.) 

The relations with France were more precarious. 

Especially ^ 

with After twenty or thirty years' unavailing negotiation 
lauce.^ with the governments of Napoleon and his Bourbon 
successors, a treaty was concluded with the government of 
Louis Philii)pe, acknowledging the American claims to the 
amount of about five million dollars, (July, 1831.) Three 
years afterwards, the French Chambers rejected the bill for 
the execution of the treaty, (1834.) Meantime the United 
States government had drawn a draft for the amount of the 
iirst instalment proposed to be paid by France, but only to 
have the draft protested. Thus doubly aggrieved, the ad- 
ministration proposed to Congress the authorization of 
reprisals upon French property, in case immediate provision 
for the fulfilment of the treaty should not be made by the 
French Chambers, (December, 1834.) The mere proposal, 
though unsupported by any action of Congress, was received 
as an affront in France ; the French minister at Washing- 



FINAZS'CIAL DIGORDERS. 411 

ton being recalled, and the American minister at Paris 
being tendered his passports. The Chambers, however, 
voted the appropriations required by the treaty, subject to 
the condition that the president's proposals to Congress 
should be satisfactorily explained, (1835.) "Does France," 
asked the president, in a special message on the subject, 
(January, 1836,) " desire only a declaration that we had no 
intention to obtain our rights by an address to her fears 
rather than her justice ? She has already had it. . . . 
Does France want a degrading, servile repetition, in terms 
which she shall dictate, and which will involve an acknowl- 
edgment of her assumed right to interfere in our domestic 
councils ? She will never obtain it." The alternative sug- 
gested to Congress was " prohibiting the introduction of 
French products and the entry of French vessels," or " the 
interdiction of all commercial intercourse." At this crisis 
Great Britain offered her mediation. It was accepted ; 
but, without waiting for'its exercise, the French government 
resolved to execute the treaty. The news soon came that 
the five millions were paid, (May, 1836.) 

The nation was united in supiwrting the adminis- 

Parties. ... i i o 

tration against France and the stranger generally. 
But on the score of domestic relations there were wide 
divisions. Party spirit, dying out under Monroe, and after- 
wards reviving with respect to men rather than to princi- 
ples, was soon excited concerning both. Jackson had 
drawn around him the most devoted adherents, devoted at 
once to him and to his system. On the other hand, the 
character of the administration and of its chief were most 
earnestly opposed by a party formed of those who had once 
followed after the president, as well as of those who had 
always been in opposition. This, after various changes of 
name, became the whig party ; the supporters of the admm- 
istration forming the democratic party. 



412 PART IV. 1 797-1 SoO. 

Commer- The finaiKMal disorders of tlio. time came to u 
ciai crisis, jjgj^j directly after Martin Van liuren succeeded liis 
chief in the presidency, (March, 1837,) when the banks, 
first of New York, and then of other cities, suspended specie 
payments, (May.) A committee from New York, aj)- 
pointed to urge the president to susi)end the requirement 
of payments in specie to the treasury, and to call an extra 
session of Congress, sta'ted in their address " that the value 
of their real estate [in New York alone] had, within the 
last six months, depreciated more than forty millions of 
dollars ; that within the i)receding two months there had 
been more than two hundred and fifty failures of houses 
engaged in extensive business ; that within the same period 
a decline of twenty millions had occurred in their local 
stocks ; . . . that the immense amount of merchan- 
dise in then- warehouses had fallen in value at least thirty 
per cent. ; that within a few weeks not less than twenty 
thousand individuals, depending npon their daily labor 
for their daily bread, had been discharged by their em- 
ployers." To this sad statement, and to other representa- 
tions of similar character, the president, after some hesita- 
tion, responded by convening Congress on the first Monday 
in Sei)tember. He then sent in a message, explaining the 
general distress on grounds very different from those taken 
by most of the distressed. He spoke of the increase of 
banking capital, of bank notes and bank discounts, within 
the last year or two, showing its enormous extent.* " The 
consequences of this redundancy of credit," pursued the 



* In 1834 the capital was about $200,000,000 ; in January^ 1836, about 
$2oO,000,000. In 1834, bank notes in circulation were about $95,000,000 ; 
in 1836, about $140,000,000. In 1834, bank loans were about .$'325,- 
000,000 ; in 1830, about .$'460,000,000. Another estimate sliows that the 
bank notes in circulation in January, 1837, exceeded those of 1830 by 
ciglity-eight millions ! 



FINANCIAL DISORDERS. 413 

president, " and of the spirit of reckless speculation engen- 
dered by it, were a foreign debt contracted by our citizens, 
estimated in March last at more than thirty millions of dol- 
lars; . . . the investment of thirty-nine and a half 
millions in unproductive public lands, in the years 1835 and 
1836, while in the preceding year the sales amounted to 
only four and a half millions; . . . the diversion to 
other pursuits of much of the labor that should have been 
applied to agriculture, thereby contributing to the expendi- 
ture of large sums in the importation of grain from Europe, 
. . . in the first two quarters of the present year in- 
creased to more than two milUons; and finally, without 
enumerating other injurious results, the rapid growth among 
all classes, and especially in our great commercial cities, of 
luxurious habits, founded too often on merely fancied 
wealth, and detrimental alike to the industry, the resources, 
and the morals of the people." 

The president expressly disclaimed any sugges- 
enttreas- tions for relieving the embarrassments that had 
"'■^" thus arisen. " Such measures," he remarked, " are 
not within the constitutional province of the general govern- 
ment." But he advocated the adoption of some system to 
relieve the government, which, since the suspension of 
specie payment by the banks, had had serious difficulties of 
its own. In the first place, the banks failed to restore 
the deposits of the treasury, and, in the second place, indi- 
viduals were unable, for want of specie, if not for want of 
any funds whatsoever, to pay their debts to the nation. A 
temporary relief, both to the treasury and to its debtors, 
was proposed in the issue of treasury notes. But the great 
thing with the president was to make some lasting provision 
against the recurrence of similar deficiencies in the govern- 
ment revenues. He therefore proposed the organization of 
an independent treasury, — its opponents called it a sub- 
35* 



414 PAllT IV. 1797-1^50. 

troasiny, — in order to do away with banks, both national 
and state, as kccjxTs of the public moneys, and subslitiiling 
a nunil)er of ollices in tiie principal cities, under the control 
of the achninistration. That this scheme, as tlie })resident 
afterwards remarkeil, ''should have given rise to great 
diversity of oi)ini<)n, cannot be a subject of sur[)rise. After 
the collection and custody of the i)ui)lic moneys had been 
for so many years connected with and made subsidiary to 
the advancement of private interests, a return to the simple 
and self-denying ordinances of the Constitution could not 
but be diiricult." Herein, however, the opposition differed 
from the chief magistrate. "The project," said Clay, in the 
Senate, " is neither desirable nor practicable, nor within the 
constitutional power of the general government, nor just ; it 
is contrary to the habits of the people, and dangerous to 
their liberties." The majority was on this side ; nor did 
the independent treasury find favor enough with Congress 
to be established until nearly three years afler its proposal, 
(July, 1840.) It was repealed the very next year, (Au- 
gust, 1841,) but reestablished five years later, (1846.) 
, , While the national finances were slowly recover- 

Insolvon- '' 

ry of ing themselves, the state finances, with some excep- 
tions, appeared to be on the brink of ruin. "What- 
ever might be the cause, — whether the excess of s))ecula- 
tion, as the administration argued, or the administration 
system itself, as the 0})position maintained, — certain it is 
that the states had run a race of extravagance and hazard 
nni)aralleled in our liistory. In the two years preceding 
the commercial crisis, the issue of state stocks — that is, the 
amount of money borrowed by the states — was nearly one 
liundred millions of dollars. The inevitable consequences 
followed. AVhile such a- had any lliin^r to snjiport their 
credit were deeply bowed, those that had nothing — those 
that had borrowed not so much to develop their resources 



FINANCIAL DISORDERS. 41 5 

as to supply the want of resources — fell, collapsed and 
shattered. Some states — Maryland, (January, 1842,) and 
Pennsylvania, (August, 1842) — paid the interest on their 
debts only by certificates, and by those only partially. 
Others — Lidiana, (July, 1841,) Arkansas, (July, 1841,) 
and Illinois, (January, 1842) — made no payment at all. 
Two — Michigan, (January, 1842,) and Louisiana, (Decem- 
ber, 1842) — ceased not merely to pay, but in part to ac- 
knowledge their dues, alleging that the frauds or failures of 
their agents, from which they had unquestionably suffered, 
released them from at least a portion of their obligations. 
Ee udia- "^"^ "^ ^^^^^' ^^ "^ every other respect, in extent 
tion in as well as in priority of insolvency, Mississippi took 



Missis- 
sippi. 



the lead. As early as January, 1841, Goveri 



McNutt suggested to the legislature the " repudiat- 
ing the sale of five miUions of the bonds of the year 1838, 
on account of fraud and illegality." These bonds had been 
issued in support of the Union Bank, which began to show 
very decided signs of instability the year preceding the 
governor's suggestion. The fi-aud that was so great as to 
require the repudiation of the bonds, consisted chiefly in 
the fact that they had been sold on credit, or, as the gov- 
ernor insisted, below par, against a sale of which sort there 
was a particular reservation in the charter of the bank. 
Even if the sale was a fraudulent one, which many in as 
well as out of Mississippi denied, the penalty attached not 
to the bondholders, who had paid their money in good faith 
that it would be returned to them, but to the bank commis- 
sioners by whom the bonds were sold, or to the bank itself, 
by which the commissioners had been appointed. Not thus 
reasoned Governor McNutt, who, to the remonstrance of a 
foreign house holding a large portion of the bonds, rephed, 
" This state will never pay the five millions of dollars of 
state bonds issued in June, 1838, or any portion of the 



41 G PART IV. 1797-1 S.W. 

interest clue, or to become due tlicnoii," (July, 1811.) This 
was written in sj)ile of the resolutions of tlic 31ississii)j)i 
legislature to stand by their bonds, the resolutions haviii;^; 
been passed some months before. But in the interval, a 
ehan;j:e had taken j)la('e in the opinion of the state, partly 
fioni motives of expediency, but jjurtly, also, from eonstitu- 
tiontd scruples, caused by a provision in the constitution 
that the assent of two successive legislatures, with public 
notice interveninjr, ^vas necessary to the use of the state 
credit — a i)rovision not complied with in the issue of the 
bonds in question. At all events, the next session of the 
legislature proved that the governor was supported in his 
position. JNIississippi deliberately repudiated her debts, 
(1842.) Her example was imitated at the same time by 
the neighboring territory of Florida. 

National Eight statcs and a territory w^ere thus sunk into 
civdit. bankruptcy, some of them into what was worse than 
bankruptcy. It was not, of course, without dishonor or 
without injury to the Union of which they were miembers. 
AVhen a national loan was attempted to be eifected abroad, 
not a bidder could be found for it, or for any part of it, in 
all EurojjC, (1842.) This was but a trifle, however, amid 
the storm of reproach that swelled against the United States. 
'' I do not wonder," wrote the Boston clergyman AVilliam 
Ellery Channing, '' that Europe raises a cry of indignation 
against this country ; I wish it could come to us in thun- 
der." Nor did it seem undeserved by the nation, as a 
whole, when Florida, still rejiudiating its debt as a territory, 
was admitted as a state, (1845.) Against this sign of 
insensibility on the part of the nation, there were happily 
to be set some proofs of returning honor on the part of the 
states, Pennsylvania taking the lead in wiping away her 
debts and her stains, (1845.) 



CHAPTER VII. 

Annexation of Texas. 
_ One of the later communications of President 

Recog- 

jiition of Jackson to Congress had been upon the subject of 
Texas and its independence. He was decided in 
recommending caution, for reasons which will presently 
appear, (December, 183G.) But Congress declaring its 
recognition of the new state, Jackson assented in the last 
moments of his administration. 

g^^^j^^ A quarter of a century before, parties from the 

moiit of United States began to cross over to join in the 
' "^ ' ■ Mexican struggle against Spain, (1813.) It was 
then uncertain whether Texas formed a part of Mexico or 
of Louisiana, the boundary being undetermined until the 
time of the treaty concerning Florida, (1819-21.) At that 
time, Texas was distinctly abandoned to Spain, from whose 
possession it immediately passed to that of her revolted 
province of Mexico. Soon after, on Mexican invitation, a 
number of colonists from the United States, under the lead 
of Stephen F. Austin, of Missouri, undertook to settle the 
still unoccupied territory, (1821.) It was no expedition to 
plunder or to destroy, but what it professed to be — to 
colonize. Notwithstanding the difficulties of the enterprise 
itself, as well as those created by the continual changes in 
the Mexican government, it prospered to such a degree, 
that several thousand settlers were gathered in during the 
ten years ensuing. 

* * (417) 



418 PAirr iv. 1 707-1 s')0. 



Revoiu- Strong in {ho'w numbors, stronger still in tlieir 
tion. energies, the Texans aspired to a more definite 
organization tlian they possessed. Without any purpose, at 
li?ast professed, of revohition, they Ibrmed a constitution, 
and sent Austin to ask tlic admission of Texas, as a se})a- 
rate state, into the Mexiean republic, (1833.) This was 
denied, and Austin thrown into prison. But no outbreak 
followed lor more than two years. Then the Mexican gov- 
ernment, resolving to reduce the Texans to entire submis- 
sion, despatched a fdrce to arrest the officers under tlie state 
constitutioFi, and to disarm the people. The Texan Lexing- 
ton was Gonzales, where the first resistance was made, 
(September 2H, 1835.) The Texan Philadelphia was a 
place called Washington, where a convention declared the 
independence of the state, (jNIarch 2, 183G,) and adopted a 
constitution, (March 17.) The Texan Saratoga and York- 
town, two in one, was on the shores of the San Jacinto, 
where General Houston, commander-in-chief of the insur- 
gents, gained a decisive victory over the Mexican president, 
Santa Anna, (April 21.) Six months afterwards, Houston 
was chosen president of the republic of Texas, (October.) 
. In his inaugural speech, he expressed the desire 

ofanuox-of tlic pcoplc to joiii tlic United States. Nothing 
could be more natural. With few exceptions, they 
were emigrants from the land to which they wished to be 
reunited. It was but natural, for the same reason, that a 
Iar£r;e nmnber of those whom they had left behind them 
should wish their I'eturn, jjartly from old associations, and 
l)artly from the new ones connected with their revolution. 
Then there were other motives to produce the same inclina- 
tion. The cession of the Lonisinna claims to Texas in the 
Florida treaty had been velnMnently o])posed by many who 
would therefore be earnest to recover the territory then sur- 
rendered. Airain and again was the effort made by the 



ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 419 

United States to get back from Mexico v/hat had been ceded 
to Spain, (1825-35.) With a very considerable party 
in the south, there was an additional incentive to regain 
Texas, in the congeniality of its climate, its resources, and 
its customs, especially the establishm.ent of slavery. But 
tlie very fact that slavery existed in Texas was a strong 
reason with another considerable party in the north to 
oppose its admission to the Union. The same party, more- 
over, would have little desire to recover the Texan territory, 
even admitting that it had ever been surrendered, as well 
as little sympathy with the character or the history of the 
Texans, who, in their eyes, seemed a wild and lawless set, 
unfit to share in the established institutions of the United 
States. To these objections must be added one, confined to 
no single portion of the Union, but very generally enter- 
tained, on account of the claim of Mexico to the Texan 
territory. Upon this point, the message of President Jack- 
son, alluded to at the beginning of the chapter, dwelt with 
emphasis. He stated plainly that the acknowledgment of 
Texan independence was the acknowledgment of the Texan 
title to the territory, in contradiction to the Mexican asser- 
tion of sovereignty. It was the more delicate a question on 
account of the differences existing between the governments 
of Mexico and of the United States. The former com- 
plained of continued invasions of her territory, in violation 
of all amity and neutrality. The latter demanded redress 
for spoliations of property and injuries to persons from the 
time that Mexico became independent. Notwithstanding 
these various complications, the independence of Texas was 
recognized by the United States, as has been mentioned, 
leaving the project of annexation to the future. 
Texas When Texas, soon after the opening of Van 

rpfused Burcu's administration, presented herself for admis- 

arlmis- _ ^ 

siou. sion to the Union, her offers were declined, and then 



.1-20 PART IV. 1797-1800. 

withdrawn, (1837.) The next year, William C. Preston, 
a senator of South Carolina, brought forward resolu- 
tions in favor of the proposed annexation ; but they were 
rejected. 

The attention of the country was turned in an- 

JJclations , , . . . . • • /- < i 

with other (hrection. An insurrection m Lanatla was 
Griat iiiiinediately su})ported by American parties, one 
of whom, in com})any with some Canadian refugees, 
after pillaging the New York arsenals, seized ui)on Navy 
Ishmd, a Briti>h possession m the Niagara River. The 
steamer Caroline, engaged in bringing over men, arms, and 
stores to the island, was destroyed, though at the time on 
the American shore, by a British detachment, (December, 
1837.) The deed was instantly avowed by the minister of 
Great Britain at Washington as an act of self-defence on 
the British side. Three years afterwards, (November, 
1840,) one Alexander M'Leod, sheriff of Niagara, in Can- 
ada, and as such a participator in the destruction of the 
Caroline, w^as arrested in New York on the charge of mur- 
der, an American having lost his life when the steamer 
was destroyed. The British government demanded his 
release, in doing which they were sustained by the United 
States administration, on the ground that M'Leod was but 
an agent or soldier of Great Britain. But the authorities 
of New Y''ork held fast to their prisoner, and brought him 
to triid. Had harm come to him, his government stood 
pledged to declare war ; but he was acquitted for want of 
proof, (1841.) Congress subsequently passed an act requir- 
ing that similar cases should be tried only before United 
States courts. The release of M'Leod did not settle the 
affair of the Caroline ; this still remained. There were, or 
there had becm, other difficulties upon the Maine frontier, 
where the boundary line had never yet been run. Col- 
lisions took place, and others, between the Maine militia 



ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 421 

and the British troops, had been but just prevented, (1839.) 
Nor was this all. Far away, upon the African coast, 
British cruisers were claiming a right to visit American 
vessels, in carrying out the provisions for the suppression 
of the slave trade. The right was asserted in a quintuple 
treaty, to which Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, 
and Russia were parties, (October, 1841 ;) but the United 
States denied it aUogether. 

Meanwhile William Henry Harrison, the choice 
of wJsh- of the whig party, had succeeded to the presidency, 
ington. ^j^/faj,^.^, 1841.) On his death, a month after, John 
Tyler, vice president, became president. His secretary of 
state, Daniel Webster, proposed to the British mmister at 
Washington to take up the question of the north-eastern 
boundary. The offer led to the appointment by the British 
government of a special envoy in the person of Lord Ash- 
burton, to whom was committed the negotiation upon the 
boundary, and upon various other points of controversy. 
Soon after his arrival in Washington, (April, 1842,) con- 
ferences were opened between him and the American secre- 
tary ; commissioners from Maine and Massachusetts being 
consuhed upon all subjects pertaining to the boundary. The 
treaty of Washington, ratified by the Senate four months 
afterwards, (August 20,) embraced almost every subject of 
dissension with Great Britain. It settled the north-eastern 
boundary ; it put down the claim to a right of visit, and in 
such a way as to lead to the denial of the claim by Euro- 
pean powers who had previously admitted it. Such were 
the advantages gained by the United States on both these 
points, the leading ones of the treaty, that it was styled in 
England the Ashburton capitulation. The treaty also pro- 
vided for the mutual surrender of fugitives from justice ; 
an object of great importance, considering the recent expe- 
riences on the Canada frontier. For the affair of the Caro- 
36 



422 PART ly. 17i)7-18.iO. 

lino, fin apolonry, or what amounted to one, was made by the 
IJritisli minister. Even the okl quarrel about impressment 
>vas put to rest, not by the treaty, l)ut by a letter from 
"Webster to Ashburton, repeating the rule originally laid 
down by Jell'erson, " that the vessel 'being Ameriean shall 
be evidence that the seamen on board are such," adding, as 
the present and future principle of the American govern- 
ment, that '' in every regularly documented American mer- 
eliant vessel, the crew who navigate it will find their protec- 
tion in the Hag which is over them." In short, every 
difficulty witli Great Britain was settled by the treaty, or 
by the accompanying negotiations, exccjjt one, the boundary 
of Oregon, on which no serious difference had as yet 
appeared. 

" I am willing," said Webster in the Senate, 
mark ill ncarly four years subsequently, " to a])peal to the 
our hia- public men of the asre, wdiether, in 1842, and in the 

tory ^ ^.7 7 

city of Washington, something was not done ibr the 
suppression of crime,' for the true exposition of the princi- 
ples of public law, for tlie freedom and security of com- 
merce on the ocean, and for the peace of the world." He 
might have made an even broader appeal. The treaty of 
Washington raised the growing nation to its place as a fore- 
most power on the earth. Compare it with all previous 
treaties with Great Britain, compare it with even the recent 
treaty with France, which had done much to elevate the 
national position of the United States, and we find that the 
treaty of Washington is a landmark in our history. 

To return to internal relations. The eye is at 

Sedition 

in Uhodo oucc caught by strange and tlu'eatenmg movements 
ibiand. j,-, Rhode Island. That state, still under its charter 

Aiiprixicii. 

government, now a century and three (juartcrs old, 
had long been agitated by efforts to change its ancient insti- 
tutions. It must be acknowledn^cd that these admitted of 



ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 423 

improvement, both on the score of suffrage, to which none 
but freeholders* and their eldest sons were entitled, and on 
that of representation, the freeholders themselves being 
very unequally represented, in consequence of changes in 
the population of the towns, a town of former importance 
enjoying a larger reiDresentation than one that had latterly 
become its superior. New constitutions were twice pro- 
posed, (1824, 1834 ;) but in vain. At length, a Suffrage 
Association, as it was styled, spread itself, Avith meetings, 
processions, and badges, over the state, calling upon the 
people, without regard to the legal voters or the legal 
authorities, to unite in a convention, and organize a new 
constitution, (1840.) 

The sedition thus prepared broke out with the 
meeting of the convention, (October, 1841.) A 
constitution, establishing universal suffrage and equal repre- 
sentation, was adopted, and submitted to the popular vote. 
Before the vote was taken, another constitution, of very 
nearly the same tenor,t was begun upon by a convention 
called by the legislature, according to the forms of law, 
(November.) The first constitution, called the People's, 
was adopted by a nominal vote of fourteen thousand, the 
whole number of voters in the state being twenty-two thou- 
sand ; but as the people's party never again mustered eight 
thousand votes, it is fair to conclude — as was proved, 
indeed, by depositions at the time — that the fourteen thou- 
sand Avere the results of deception, (December.) The 
Landholders' Constitution, as the second instrument was 
styled, on being completed, (February, 1842,) and submitted 

* Of an estate valued at ^134, or renting for seven dollars. This was 
the rule of 1798. 

t The chief differences being in the length of residence entitling a 
native to vote, and in the requirement by the second constitution that a 
naturalized citiijen must be a freeholder before he could vote. 



424 PART IV. 1707-18-50. 

not merely to tlie freelioklers, but to the citizens at large, 
was rejected, cliieHy because the party in favor of retaining 
the charter government united with the people'.s party in 
opposition, (March.) This left the charter and the People's 
Constitution face to face, the former being the law of the 
state, the latter the law of a faction. To sustain the law of 
the state, the legislature declared fine and imprisonment the 
penalties of presiding at illegal meetings or of figuring u})ou 
iliegtd tickets, — in other words, of taking part in the elec- 
tions under the law of the taction. A call for aid was at 
the same time ukuIc upon the president of the United vStates 
by the governor of Kliode Island. President Tyler rejdied 
that aid should be forthcoming upon the conunission of any 
act of violence by the faetion. This body, nowise intimi- 
dated by either slate or national authorities, went on with 
its elections, choosing its leader, Thomas AV. Dorr, to be 
governor of Rhode Island, (April.) 

War soon followed. Dorr organized his govern- 

Civil war. . . , p , -r-» • i 

ment in the midst oi armed men at Providence, 
while at Newport Governor King, surrounded by the con- 
stituted authorities, renewed his summons for assistance 
from the nation. United States troops were, moved to 
Newport, (May.) On the 18th of the same month, 
Dorr, at the head of an armed force, made an ineffectual 
attempt to get possession of the Providence arsenal, defended 
as it was by braver men than he or his soldiers. At this, 
all the better men of his faction, including most of his legis- 
lature and state officers, abandoned his cause, while he fled 
the state. But it was only more decisively to try his for- 
tunes in the field. A montli had hardly passed when news 
came that Dorr, with two or three hundred followers, was 
throwing up intrenchments at Cliepachet, a village about 
tvn miles from Providence. It took but a week for three 
thousand volunteers to come to'^'tlier and maivh against the 



ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 425 

post of the insurgents, which was found abandoned. There 
ended the civil war, (June 27.) Three months later a con- 
vention of the state adopted a new constitution, providing 
for the reforms wliich Dorr and his party had sought 
through sedition and strife, (September.*) 

Other states were organizing themselves more 
states peaceably. Arkansas, the first state admitted since 
audtcrri- MissouH, (Juuc 15, 1836,) was followed by Michi- 

tories. ^ ^ '' 

gan, (January 26, 1837.) Wisconsin, organized as 
a single territory, (1836,) was presently divided as Wiscon- 
sin and Iowa, (1838.) Then Iowa was admitted a state, 
(March 3, 1845,t) and at the same date Florida became a 
member of the Union. 

All the while, Texas remained the object of desire 
ments ^^^cl of debate. The administration continued its 

concern, negotiations, now with Mexico, deprecating the con- 
ing Texas. , p . . ^ r o 

tinuance of hostilities with Texas, and then asjain 

with Texas itself, proposing new motives of alliance and 
new means of annexation with the United States. Presi- 
dent Tyler was strongly m favor of consummating the 
annexation. In this he was supported by a stronger and 
stronger inclination to the same end on the part of the south. 
But the north was growing more and more adverse to the 
plan. The old arguments were mingled with new ones. A 
great deal of stress was now laid on the danger of Texas 
throwing itself into the arms of another nation, of Great 
Britain, for instance, or of France ; the idea being that the 
United States would suffer from having upon their frontier 
a state in foreign dependence. But the main dispute as to 
Texas came from the question of slavery. 

* Accepted in November, and put in operation in the follomng May, 
(1843.) It was similar in its provisions to the Landholder's Constitution 
of a few months before. 

t Again in 1846, but not actually entering until 1848. 

36* 



426 TAUT IV. 17J7-18.W. 

Question " Fc^w calaiiiilics," wrote Alx'l V. V\)<]\m\ then 
of slavery, sccrctaiy of state, "eould befall this country more 
to be deplored than the abolition of domestic slavery in 
Texa.s," (September, 1843.) Some months later, he wrote 
to Texa.s to the effect that she could not ])ossibly keep up 
shivery without the aid of the Unit<'d States, (January, 
1844.) All this wiLS ba.sed upon the sup})osition that Eng- 
land was eii(lea\()ring to get Texas under her control, and 
then to clear the state of its slaves. It was afterwards 
stated by no less an authority than General Hou.ston, that 
the supposition was totally groundl(\><s. But, however this 
may have been, the point is plain that the annexation of 
Texas was regarded as necessary to the interests of slavery, 
both in that country and in the United States. The reason 
why it was so with the United States is evident enough ; 
not only was an immense market for shives closed, but an 
immense refuge for slaves was opened, in case Texas 
sliould cease to be slaveholding. "Annexation," wrote 
John C. Calhoun, then secretJiry of state, " was forced on 
the government of the United Stat(\=i in self-defence," (April, 
1844.) Such, tlieii, was the motive ol' the secretaries and 
the president, all southern men, and devotedly sujijutrted 
by the south, in striving for an addition to the slaveholding 
states in the shape of Texas. The more they strove on this 
ground, the more they were 0])posed in the free states. It 
was the iMissouri battle over again. Nay, it was more than 
that; in that, said the north, we contended against the ad- 
mission of one of our own territories, but in this contest we 
are fighting against the admission of a foreign state, 
j^eom- I^'l^<' '^ll the other great differences of the nation, 

pinnii.sc. ^],i^ difference concerning Texas was susceptilde of 
coni])r()mise. At first, the administration attemi)t<'d to 
escape it. ))re|)ariiig a treaty which declared Texas a mem- 
ber of the Union, (April 12, 1844.) The treaty wad 



ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 427 

rejected by the Senate ; but the nation sustained the project 
of annexation ; and in the next session of Congress both 
Senate and House united in joint resolutions of the same 
purport as the rejected treaty, (March 1, 1845.) Here, 
however, there was a compromise. The resolutions pro- 
vided that the Texan territory, when sufficiently peopled, 
might be divided into five states. " Such states," it was 
added, " as may be formed out of that portion of said terri- 
tory lying south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north 
latitude, commonly known as the Missouri Compromise 
line, shall be admitted into the Union with or without sla- 
very, as the people of each state asking admission may 
desire ; and in such state or states as shall be formed out of 
said territory north of said Missouri Compromise Ime, 
slavery or involuntary servitude (except for crime) shall be 
prohibited." Texas assented to the terms of the resolu- 
tions, (July 4,) and w^as soon after formally enrolled amongst 
the United States of America, (December 29.) 
Conse- The democratic party, espousing the project of 

quences. annexation before it was fulfilled, carried the elec- 
tion of James K. Polk as president and George M. Dallas 
as vice president. " Well may the boldest fear," said the 
new president in his inaugural address, " and the wisest 
tremble, when incurring responsibilities on which may 
depend our country's peace and prosperity, and in some 
degree the hopes and happiness of the whole human fam- 
ily," (March, 1845.) He found the annexation of Texas 
accomphshed. But the consequences were yet to be seen 
and borne. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
War vriTU Mexico. 

Mexico had all alon^j declared the annexation 

Causes of <=> 

war: of Texas by the United States would he an act of 
exican. jj^^jjijj^,^ ^g gQ^j-j j^g Congress resolved ui)on it, 

the Mexican minister at Wasliington demanded his pass- 
ports, (March G, 1845,) and the Mexican government sus- 
])ended intercourse with the envoy of the United States, 
(Ajjril 2.) "AVar" — so the Mexicans persisted — "was 
the only recourse of the Mexican government." The cause 
was the occupation of a stat<i which they still claimed as a 
province of their own, notwithstanding it had been inde- 
pendent now for nine years, and as such recognized by 
several of the European powers in addition to the United 
States. 

Amcri- With tlic United States, the preservation of 

can. Texas was not the only cause of war. Indeed, for 
the time, it was no cause at all, according to the adminis- 
tration. If there was any dis])osition to take up arms, it 
came from what the president styled '' the system of insult 
and sj)oliation " under which Americans had long been suf- 
fering ; merchants losing their ])roi)erty, and sailors their 
liberty, by seizures on Mexican waters and in Mexican 
ports. In spit(^ of a treaty, now fourteen years old, (1831,) 
the wrongs complained of had continued, until President 
.Tackson, in the last month of his administration, (February, 
lbo7,) thought it best to recommend demands for justice 

(128; 



WAR WITH MEXICO. 429 

" from on board one of our vessels of war on tlie coast of 
Mexico." After some delays, the Mexican government en- 
tered into a convention, (1839,) by which a commission 
was appointed to examine the American claims, (1840.) 
The term of the commission having expired before more 
than a third of the claims had been examined, (1842,) the 
United States pressed the appointment of a new commission ; 
but in vain. Instead, however, of dealing harshly with the 
Mexicans, the amounts acknowledged by them to be due to 
Americans were paid, so far as paid at all, by the United 
States government, their payment by the Mexican govern- 
ment being postponed, (1843.) All this, it is plain, would 
never have brought about war, had there been no other 
exciting cause. 

Boundary Tliis causQ was closc at hand. In annexing Texas, 
of Texjis. ^j^e United States government understood the terri- 
tory to extend as far as the Rio Grande. For considering 
this the boundary there were two reasons ; one, that the 
Texans had proclaimed it such, and the other, that it was 
apparently implied to be such in the treaty ceding the 
country west of the Sabine to Spain, a quarter of a century 
before. Accordingly, American troops were moved to Cor- 
pus Christi, (August, 1845,) and, six months afterwards, 
(March, 1846,) to the Rio Grande, with orders " to repel 
any invasion of the Texan territory which might be at- 
tempted by the Mexican forces." On the other side, 
Mexico protested alto^her against the line of the Rio 
Grande. The River Nueces, according to Mexican au- 
thority, was the boundary of Texas. Even supposing 
Texas surrendered by the Mexicans, which it was not, they 
still retained the territory between the Nueces and the Rio 
Grande — a territory containing but few settlements, and 
those not Texan, but purely Mexican. In support of this 
position, the Mexican General Arista was ordered to cross 



430 TAKT IV. 17'.)7-1S.>0. 

the Ivio Grande and di-r<ii.l tin' coiiiitr}' against tlie invader, 

(April, I.SK;.) 

Misiii.jn l^uJ"iiig lin'sc nKtvrnirnts a mission was s<Mit troni 

from Unit- the United Stat«*s to Mexieo, (Novrniln'r, lS-i:>.) 
cd Status. ,,,, . . . 1 • , , 

1 he iniiu^tcr went autnon/ed to i)ro|)Ose and to 

curry out an adjn.-^tnicnt of all the dillieullics b«'tw«en the 

two countries. IJut he was refused a hearing; the Mexican 

government, fresh from one of its- revolutions, in.-isting that 

the <iuestion of Texas must be disposed of, and on Mexican 

teiin>, l>efore entering upon any general negotiations. The 

]>earer of the olive branch was obligi.'d to return, (March, 

iiostiii- As the American troops, pome three thousand 
^"■''- strong, under General Taylor, ai)proached the Ulo 

Grande, the inhabitants retired; at one ])lace, Point L-alxd, 
l)Mrning their dwellings. This certainly did not look much, 
like being on American or on Texan ground. But Taylor, 
obedient to his orders, kei)t on, until he took jmst b}' the 
Rio Grande, opposite the Mexican town of Matamoras, 
(March 28, 184G.) There, about a month later, (Aj)ril 
24,) he was thus addressed by the Mexican General Arista: 
'' Pressed and forced into war, we enter into a struggle 
which we cannot avoid without being unfaithful to what is 
most sacred to men." A Mexican force was simultaneously 
sent acro.^s the stream, to what the Americans considere(l 
their territory. Some collisions had already taken place ; 
but the first act to begin hostiliti[|s occurred on the same 
day of the Mexican movements, when a squadron of dra- 
goons, s(;nt by Taylor to reconnoitre the Mexicans, fell in 
with a much superior force, and, after a skirmish, surren- 
dei-ed. The next day but one, Taylor, as previously author- 
ized by his goverimient, called upon the states of Texas and 
Louisiana for five thousand volunteers. As soon as the 
news reached AVashington, the president informed Congress 



WAR WITH MEXICO. 431 

that " war exists, and exists by the act of Mexico herself,'* 
(May 11.) Congress took the same ground, and gave the 
president authority to call fifty thousand volunteers into the 
field, (May 13.) It -was ten days later, but of course before 
any tidings of these proceedings could have been received, 
that Mexico made a formal declaration of war, (May 23.) 
The question as to which nation began hostilities, must for- 
ever depend upon the question of the Texan boundary. If 
this was the River Nueces, the United States began v^^ar 
the summer before. If, on the contrary, it was the Kio 
Grande, the Mexicans, as President Polk asserted, were 
the aggressors. But there is no possible way of deciding 
which river it was that formed the actual boundary. The 
assertion of Mexico, that it was the Nueces, is as reason- 
able as the declaration of Texas, supported by the United 
States, that it was the Rio Grande. 

The forces between which hostilities commenced 

Disparity 

of com- were both sm^iU, the United States army being the 
smaller of the two. But this disparity was as noth- 
ing compared with that between the nations. The United 
States went to war with Mexico very much as they would 
have gone to war with one or more of their own number. 
Mexico, broken by revolutions, had neither government nor 
army to defend her ; there were oflicials, there were sol- 
diers, but there was no strength, no efficiency in either. 
Doubtless Mexico trusted to the divisions of her enemy, to 
the opposition which parties in the United States would 
make to the war. But the parties of the United States 
were one, in contrast with the parties of Mexico. 
ore<^on ^^ another point, the Mexicans could build up 
contro- better founded hopes. At the very time that hostiii- 
versy. ^.^^ opened between the United States and Mexico, 
there was serious danger of a rupture between the United 
States and Great Britain. It sprang from conflicting claims 



432 PAKT lY. 1 797-1 a50. 

to the distant territory of Oregon. Tlio>e of the United 
States were bas(;d, first, upon American voyages to the 
Pacific coast, chiefly upon one made by Cajttain Gray, in 
the Cohimbia, from wliicli the great river of the north-west 
took its name, (171)2;) secondly, upon the acquisition of 
Louisiana with all the Spanish rights to the western shores, 
(1S()3 ;) and thirdly, upon an expedition under Ca})tain 
Lewis and Lieutenant Clarke, of the United States army, 
by whom the Missouri was traced towards its source, and 
the Columbia descended to the Pacific Ocean, (1803-G.) 
Against these, the British government asserted various 
claims of discovery and occupancy. Twice the two nations 
agreed to a joint possession of the country in dispute, 
(1818, 1827 ;) twice the United States proposed a dividing 
line, once under Monroe, and again under Tyler. The 
rejection of the latter proposal had led to a sort of war cry, 
during the presidential election then pending, (1814.) that 
Oregon must be held. President Polk renewed the offer, 
but on less favorable terms, and it was rejected, (1845.) 
Agreeably to his recommendation, a twelve months' notice, 
preliminary to the termination of the existing arrangements 
concerning the occupation of Oregon, was formally given 
by the United States government, (1846.) INIeanwhile 
emigration to Oregon had been proceeding on so large a 
scale during the few years previous, that there were some 
thousands of Americans settled upon the territory. It was 
a grave juncture, therefore, that had arrived. 
Settle- l^"t it was ha])pily terminated on proposals, now 

meat. emanating from Great Britain, by which the line of 
forty-nine degrees was constituted the boundary ; the right 
of navigating the Columbia being secured to the British, 
(June 15, 184G.) Thus vanished the prospect of a Avar 
with Great Britain, in addition to the war with Mexico. 
But its existence, if only for a time, explains a part at 



WAR WITH MEXICO. 433 

least of the confidence with which the Mexicans entered 
into the strife. It does away, on the other hand, with the 
apparent want of magnanimity in the Americans to measure 
themselves with antagonists so much their inferiors. 

The Mexican General Arista commenced the 
of north- bombardment of the American position, afterwards 
east of called Fort Brown from its gallant defender. Major 
Brown, (May 3.) General Taylor was then with 
the bulk of his troops at Point Isabel. Having made sure 
of that post, he marched back to the relief of Fort Brown, 
and on the way engaged with the enemy at Palo Alto, 
(May 8,) and at Resaca de la Palma, (May 9.) With a 
force so much inferior, that the most serious apprehensions 
had been excited for its safety, the Americans came off 
victors in both actions. Such was the effect upon the Mex- 
icans, thafthey at once recrossed the Rio Grande, and even 
retreated to some distance on their side of the river. Tay- 
lor followed, carrying the war into the enemy's country, 
and occupying Matamoras, (May 18.) A long pause 
ensued, to wait for reenforcements, and indeed for plans ; 
the war being wholly unprepared for on the American side. 
But the news of the first victories aroused the whole nation. 
Even the opponents of the war yielded their principles so 
far as to give their sympathies to the brave men who had 
carried then* arms farther from the limits of the United 
States than had ever before been done by an American 
army. Volunteers gathered from all quarters in numbers 
for which it was positively difficult to provide. At length, 
with considerably augmented forces, Taylor set out again, 
supported by Generals Worth and Wool among many other 
eminent officers. Monterey, a very important place in this 
part of Mexico, was taken after a three days' resistance 
under General Ampudia, (September 21-23.) An armis- 
tice of several weeks followed. Subsequently, Taylor 
37 



434 PART IV. 1797-1850. 

marched southward as fiir as Victoria ; but on the recall of 
a portion of his troops to take part in other operations, he 
fell back into a defensive position in the north, (January, 
1817.) There, at Buena Vista, he was attacked by a com- 
paratively large army under Santa Anna, then generalis- 
simo of Mexico, who, deeming himself secure of his prey, 
sent a summons of surrender, which Taylor instantly 
decliiied. The dispositions for the battle had been made 
in great part by General AVool, to whom, with many of the 
other officers, the victory achieved by the Americans de- 
serves to be ascribed, as well as to the resolute commander. 
It was a bloody engagement, continuing for two successive 
days, (February 22, 23.) Taylor w^as never more truly 
the hero than when he wrote to Henry Clay, whose son had 
fallen in the fight, that, in remembering the dead, " I can 
say with truth that I feel no exultation in out success." 
Santa Anna, meanwhile, was in full retreat, leaving the 
Americans in secure possession of all the north-eastern 
country. Six months later, Taylor sent a large number of 
his remaining men to act elsewhere, (August ;) then, leav- 
ing General Wool in command, he returned to the United 
States, (November.) 

Soon after the fall of Monterey, a force under 
of Chi- General Wool was detached to penetrate into the 
lua ua. jjQj.j}^(,j.j^ province of Chihuahua. It did not go by 
any means so far. But at about the same time, an expe- 
dition from the north, headed by Colonel Doniphan, 
marched down upon the province, taking possession first 
of El Paso, (December 27,) and then, after a battle with 
the Mexicans, under Heredia, at the pass of Sacramento, 
(February 28, 1847,) of Chihuahua, the capital, (March 
1.) Doniphan presently evacuated his conquest, (April.) 
Early in tlie following year, Chiluiahua became the object 
of a third expedition, under General Price, who, coming 



WAR WITH MEXICO. 435 

from the same direction as Doniphan, again occupied the 
town, (March 7, 1848,) defeating the Mexicans at the 
neighboring Santa Cruz de las Rosales, (March 16.) The 
whole story of the Chihuahua expeditions is that of border 
forays rather than of regular campaigns. 
Conquest ^^^^^ Doulphan and Price made their descents 
of Now from New Mexico, which had been taken possession 

of by the Americans under General Kearney in 
the first months of the war, (August, 1846.) So scanty 
and so prostrate was the population as to offer no resistance, 
not even to the occupation of the capital, Santa Fe, (Au- 
gust 18.) But some months after, when Kearney had 
proceeded to California, and Doniphan, after treating with 
the Navajo Indians, had gone against Chihuahua, an insur- 
rection, partly of Mexicans and partly of Indians, broke 
out at a village fifty miles from Santa Fe. The American 
governor, Charles Bent, and many others, both Mexicans 
and Americans, were murdered ; battles, also, were fought, 
before the insurgents were reduced, by Price, (January, 
1847.) 

Conquest ^^^^ *^^® tidiugs of the war reached the Pacific 
of Caii- coast, a band of Americans, partly trappers and 

partly settlers, — "a curious set," says an English- 
man who saw them, — declared their independence of 
IMexico at Sonoma, a town of small importance not far from 
San Francisco, (July 4, 1846.) The leader of the party 
was John C. Fremont, a captain in the United States 
Engineers, who had recently received instructions from his 
government to secure a hold upon California. A few days 
after thejr declaration, Fremont and his followers joined 
the American Commodore Sloat, who, aware of the war, 
had taken Monterey, (July 7,) and entered the Bay of San 
Francisco, (July 9.) Sloat was soon succeeded by Com- 
modore Stockton; and he, in conjunction with Fremont, took 



43 G PART IV. 1797-1850. 

po?;?os?ion of Ciudad de los Angeles, the capital of Upper 
Culiluniia, (August 13.) All this was done without oppo- 
sition from the scattered Mexicans of the province, or from 
their feeble authorities. But some weeks later, a few 
braver spirits collected, and, driving the Americans from 
the capital, succeeded likewise in recovering the gi'catcr 
part of California, (September, October.) On the api)roach 
of General Kearney from New Mexico, a month or two 
aiterwards, he wjis met in battle at San Pasqual, (Decem- 
ber G,) and so hemmed in by the enemy as to be in great 
danger, until relieved by a force despatched to his assistance 
by Commodore Stockton. The commodore and the gen- 
eral, joining forces, retook Ciudad de los Angeles, after two 
actions with its defenders, (January 10, 1847.) A day or 
two later, Fremont succeeded in bringing the main body of 
Mexicans in arms to a capitulation at Cowenga (January 
13.) California was again, and more decidedly than before, 
an American possession. Its conquerors, having no more 
Mexicans to contend with, turned against one another, and 
quarrelled for the precedence as vigorously as they had 
struggled for victory. Lower California was afterwards 
assailed, but under different commanders. La Paz and 
San Jose, both inconsiderable places, were occupied in the 
course of the year. On the opposite shore, Guaymas was 
taken by a naval force under Captain Lavalette, (October,) 
and Mazatlan by the fleet under Commodore Shubrick, 
(November.) From time to time the Mexicans rallied 
against the invaders, but without success. It was all a 
series of skirmishes, fought in the midst of lonely mountains 
and on far-stretching shores, rather than of ordinary battles, 
that had reduced California beneath the American power. 

And now to return to the eastern side. From the first, a 
blockade of the ports in the Gulf of Mexico was but poorly 
maintained. Then the American fleet embarked upon vari- 



WAR WITH MEXICO. 437 

ous operations. Twice was Alvarado, a port to the 
tiourin south of Vera Cruz, attacked by Commodore Con- 
Guif of jjgj,^ ^^^^ twice it was gallantly defended, (August 7, 

October 15, 1846.) Then Commodore Perry went 
against Tobasco, a little distance up a river on the southern 
coast ; but, though he took some prizes and some hamlets, 
he did not gain the town, (October 23-26.) The only 
really successful operation was the occupation of Tampico, 
which the Mexicans abandoned on the approach of their 
enemies, (November 15.) 

Early in the foUowinoj spring the fleet and the 
upou city army combined in an attack upon Vera Cruz. An- 
ot Mexico, ^.^.^^^^.^^^g of success, howcvcr high amongst the 
troops and their officers, were not very generally enter- 
tained even by their own countrymen. Vera Cruz, or its 
castle of San Juan d'UUoa, having been represented over 
and over again, in Europe and in America, as impregnable. 
Nevertheless, a bombardment of a few days obliged the 
garrison, under General Morales, to give up the town and 
the castle together, (March 23-26, 1847.) Once masters 
there, the Americans beheld the road to the city of Mexico 
lying open before them ; but here, again, their way was 
supposed to be beset by insurmountable difficulties. They 
pressed on, nine or ten thousand strong. General Scott at 
their head, supported by Generals Worth, Pillow, Quitman, 
and Twiggs, with many officers of tried and of untried rep- 
utation. However skilful the leaders, or however valiant 
the men, it was a daring enterprise to advance upon the 
capital. In other directions, along the northern boundary, 
the war had been carried into remote and comparatively 
unpeopled portions of the country. Here the march lay 
through a region provided with defenders and with defences, 
where men would fight for their homes, and where their 
homes, being close at hand, would give them aid as well as 
37* 



438 TAUT IV. 1797-1850. 

inspiration. Tho niarcli nj)on INIj-xico wa«! by all moans 
the gix'at perfonuance oftlie war. 

Bjittioson Its (litriculties soon appeared. At CVrro Gordo, 
tho way. gjxty mill's from Vera Cruz, Santa Anna po.«;t(,'d 
thirteen thousand of Ids IMexicans in a mountain })ass, to 
whose natural strength he had added by fort iticat ion. It 
took two days to force a passa^re, the Americans losing 
al)out five hundred, l»ut inHictinpr a far p^eater loss on their 
brave opponents, (April 18-11).) Here, however, they 
j)aused ; a j)art of the force was soon to be discharged, and 
Scott decided that lie would mak(^ his dismissals and wait 
for the empty places to be lilled. He accordincrly advanced 
slowly to Puebla, while the Mexicans kept in the back- 
ground, or appeared only as guerillas, (May 28.) Tiie 
guerilla warfare had been prognosticated as the one insuper- 
able obstacle to the progress of tlu; American army ; it 
proved harassing, but by no means fatal. During the delay 
ensuing on land, the fleet in the gulf, under Commodore 
Perry, took Tuspan and Tobasco, both being but slightly 
defended, (April IS — June 15.) At length, reenforcements 
having reached the army, making it not quite eleven thou- 
sand strong, it resumed its march, and entered the valley 
of Mexico, (August 10.) 

In vaiiiy There the Mexicans stood, Santa Anna still at 
of Mexico. t|i(.|j. head, thirty-five thousand in their ranks, 
regular troops and volunteers, old and young, rich and 
poor, men of the professions and men of the trades, — all 
joined in tlu* defence of their country, now threatened at its 
v<'ry heart. They wanted much, however, that was essen- 
tial to success. Hope was faint, and even courage sank 
beneath the errors and the iiitri'jues of tlui connnanding 
ollicers, to whom, speaking generally, it was vain to look 
for example or for guidance. Behind the army was the 
government, endeavoring to unite itselfj yet still rent and 



WAR WITH MEXICO. 439 

enfeebled to the last degree. Even the clergy, chafed by 
the seizure of church property to meet the exigencies of the 
state, were divided, if not incensed. It was a broken nation, 
and yet all the more worthy of respect for the last earnest 
resistance wliich it was making to the foe. Never had 
armies a more magnificent country to assail or to defend 
than that into which the Americans had penetrated. They 
fought in defiles or upon plains, vistas of lakes and fields 
before them, mountain heights above them, the majesty of 
nature every where mingling with the contention of man. 
Fourteen miles from the city, battles began at Contreras, 
where a Mexican division under General Valencia was 
totally routed, (August 19-20.) The next engagement 
followed immediately, at Churubusco, six miles from the 
capital, Santa Anna himself being there completely defeated, 
(August 20.) An armistice suspended further movements 
for a fortnight, when an American division under Worth 
made a successful assault on a range of buildings called 
Molino del Rey, close to the city. This action, though the 
most sanguinary of the entire war, — both Mexicans and 
Americans surpassing all their previous deeds, — was with- 
out results, (September 8.) A few days later, the fourth 
and final engagement in the valley took place at Chapulte- 
pec, a fortress just above Molino del Rey. Within the 
lines was the Mexican Military College, and bravely did 
the students defend it, mere boys outvying veterans in feats 
of valor. In vain, nevertheless ; the college and the fortress 
yielded together, (September 12-13.) The next day Scott, 
with six thousand five hundred men, the whole of his army 
remaining m the field, entered the city of Mexico, (Septem- 
ber 14.) 

Last Santa Anna retired in the direction of Puebla, 

actions, wliich he Vainly attempted to take from Colonel 
Childs. The object of the Mexican general was to cut off 



410 PART IV. 1707-18.30. 

tlu' communication hdwccn Scott :in<l tlic scal)o:inl ; hut lie 
did not succeed. A l"<\v la-t ad ion- of an interior cliarac- 
ter, a few skirmishes \vitli bands of partisans, and tlie \var 
wits over in tliat j^art of the country. Tiie American gen- 
erals betook themselves to (juarrels and arrests; Scott being 
some months afterwards superseded by General Butler, 
(February, IS IS.) 

Now that th<'lr exploits have been described, the 

Coni|>'>«i- '■ 

ti.iiof United States armies are to be understood l<)r what 
States ^^^*^y were. It was no regular ibrce, pre}>ared by 
forces. years of disci[)line to meet the i'oc, that i'ollowed 
Taylor, Scott, and the other leaders, to the field. Tlie f<'W 
regiments of United States troops were lost, in res])ect to 
numbers, though not to deeds, amid the thousands of volun- 
teers that came swarming from every part of the Union. 
To bring these irregular troops into any effective condition 
was more difficult than to meet the INIexicans. On the 
otiier hand, there was an animation about them, a personal 
feeling of emulation and of patriotism, which made the vol- 
unteers a far more valuable force than might have been 
supposed. After all, however, it was to the officers, to the 
pupils of West Point, to the intelligent, and, in many cases, 
devoted men, who left their occuj)ations at home to sustain 
what they deemed the honor of their country abroad, that 
the successes of the various campaigns are chiefly to be 
ascribed. The effect of the war was to give the nation a 
much more military character than it had hitherto sustained, 
e\ en in its own eyes. 

FoicHi One point in the American conduct of the war is 

BuppiiL's. jQi tQ ]J^, noticed. As early as the fifth month of 
hostilities, (September, 1846,) the secretary of war in- 
structed General Taylor to "draw supplies from llie enemy 
without paying for them, and to require contributions, if in 
tliat way you are satisfied you can get abundant su])plies." 



WAR WITH MEXICO. 441 

The same instructions were sent to General Scott in the 
following spring. But both the generals declined the at- 
tempt of raising forced supplies. After the occupation of 
the capital, however, Scott exacted several large contribu- 
tions from the conquered country. Another form of levy- 
ing money wHs in the duties imposed upon all merchandise 
admitted into the Mexican ports occupied by the Ameri- 
cans. This, as the government allowed, " was, in effect, the 
seizure of the public revenues of Mexico;" the object 
being, as in the other cases, " to compel the enemy to con- 
tribute, as far as practicable, towards the expenses of the 
war." 

Peace: The War had not continued three months, when 

first steps, ^jjg United States made an overture of peace, (July, 
1846.) It was referred by the Mexican administration to 
the National Congi-ess, and there it rested. In announcing 
to the American Congress the proposal which he had made, 
President Polk suggested the appropriation of a certain 
sum, as an indemnity for any Mexican territory that might 
be retained at the conclusion of the war. In the debate 
which followed, an administration representative from Penn- 
sylvania, David Wihnot, moved a proviso to the proposed 
appropriation: "That there shall be neither slavery nor 
involuntary servitude in any territory on the continent of 
America, which shall hereafter be acquired by or annexed 
to the United States by virtue of this appropriation, or in 
any other manner whatsoever.'' The proviso was hastily 
adopted in the House ; but it was too late to receive any 
action in the Senate before the close of the session, (Au- 
gust.) In the following session the proviso again passed 
the House, but was abandoned by that body on being 
rejected by the Senate. 

Next Provided with the sum which he thought neces- 

steps. gj^iy ^ insure negotiation, President Polk appointed 



412 TAUT IV. 1797-1850. 

N. P. Tri^t, cliirfrlt'ik of tlir state d.-partuK'nl, n roinmis- 
sioiiiT to take out thr plan of a tr<aty, rcijiiiriii;: Mexico to 
(•<'(le ji poriioii of lier territory, l)ut pioiiii>iiii; her >oine 
remuiK'nition, (April, IS 17.) . Il was sevt-ral iiK^iitlis aiter 
the commissioner's arrival at tluj American head cpiarters 
tliat he ohtaineJ an intervii w wiili any c()niiTiission«*rs on 
the part of Mexico, lie then met tliem several times, j)ro- 
j)osing liis project and receivintr their.-, the two heiiii,^ very 
far aj>art. Tiie Mexicans were reluctant to yield any terri- 
toiy, even tliat beyond the Rio Grande, which had been 
claimed as a part of Texas. It went especially against 
their inclinations to open it to slavery; the instructions of 
the commissioners being (piite })ositive on the })oint that 
any treaty to be signed by them must prohil)it shivery in 
the ceded country. '' No jjresident of the United States," 
rejjlied Comuiissioner Trist, "would dare to present any 
such treaty to the Senate." Nor was there any obstacle 
stronger than this against the agreement of the negotiators. 
They separated, without having accomplished any thing, 
(August, September.) 

Trist was recalled, apparently for not pressing 
the claims of his government with greater vehe- 
mence. But he took it upon himself to remain where he 
was, and to treat with new commissioners, two months after 
the entrance of the American army into the city of Mexico, 
(November.) The result of battles rather than of negotia- 
tions was a treaty signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, a suburb 
of the capital. By this instrument Mexico ceded the whole 
of Texas, New Mexico, and Upper California, while the 
United States agreed to surrender their other conquests, 
and to pay for those retained the sum of fifteen millions, 
besides assuming the old claims of their own citiz<'ns against 
JMexieo to the amount ot" more than ihice millions, (Feb- 
ruary 2, Iblt).) The treaty contained other pro\i.>ions, 



WAR WITH MEXICO. 443 

some of which were modified at "Washington, and altered 
accordingly at Queretaro, where the Mexican Congress was 
called to ratify the peace. Ratifications were finally ex- 
changed at Queretaro, (May 30,) and peace proclaimed at 
Washington, (July 4.) The Mexican territory — that is, 
the portion which remained — was rapidly evacuated. 
Character Thus ended a conflict of which the motives, the 
of the events, and the results have been very variously 
^^^' estimated. But this much may be historically said, 
that on the side of the United States the war had not 
merely a party, but rather a sectional character. What 
sectional causes there were to bring about hostilities, we 
have seen in relation to the annexation of Texas. What 
sectional issues there were to proceed from the treaty, we 
have yet to see. " It is a southern war," was the express 
statement of a writer of South Carolina. 



CHAPTER IX. 

COMrKOMISE OF 18.30. 

New tor- WiTiiiN the liiuits of Tcxas, New Mexico, and 
ritury. Ciilii'ornia, there lay a vast region, containing up- 
wards of eight hundred thousand square miles. All the 
Tnited States, previously, comprehended but little beyond 
two millions. An addition, therefore, of considerably more 
than one third of the territory existing before the annexa- 
tion of Texas had been brought to pass. Extraordinary as 
was this acquisition in extent, it was still more extraordi- 
nary in character. Not to dwell upon the variety of cli- 
mat(% of scenery, of soil, and of production, wliich it com- 
prehended, there was within the limits of California a 
region of surpassing value. Just before the treaty with 
Mexico, (January, 1848,) the erection of a mill upon a 
branch of the Sacramento revealed the existence of gold, 
which was soon discovered in other places. To cover the 
soil with gold diggers, and to arouse the rest of the country 
to emigration, or to speculation, or at least to wondering 
interest, were the almost instantaneous consequences. 
" The acquisition of California," exclaimed President Polk, 
placing that district first upon his list, " and New Mexico, 
the settlement of the Oregon boundary, and the amiexation 
of Texas, extending to the Kio Grande, are results which, 
combined, are of greater consequence, and will add more to 
the. strength and wealth of the nation, tlian any which have 
preceded them since the adoption of the Constitution." 

(444) 



COMPROMISE OF 1850. 445 

Diffi. There was another side, nevertheless, even to the 

cuities. president. In communicating the exchange of ratifi- 
cations between the United States and Mexico, he addressed 
Congress in this wise : " There has perhaps been no period 
since the warning so impressively given to his countrymen 
by Washington, to guard against geographical divisions- and 
sectional parties, which appeals with greater force than the 
present to the patriotic, sober-minded, and reflecting of all 
parties and of all sections of our country. As we extend 
the blessings of the Union over new regions, shall we be so 
unwise as to endanger its existence by geographical divis- 
ions and dissensions ? " This was written amid a perfect 
tumult of congressional and of popular discussions. The 
canvass for a presidential election had begun, with whig 
and democratic candidates, in addition to whom were soon 
brought forward the candidates of a free-soil party, so called 
from its insisting upon the exclusion of slavery from the 
recently acquired territories. All the signs of the time 
pointed to a wide and a grave division between northern 
and southern opinions. It was a more serious strife than 
that between the United States and Mexico, from which, 
directly speaking, it had sprung. 

01(1 lies- ^^^ questions were subsiding. The tariff, twice 
tionssuii- revised within the last few years, (1842, 1846,) had 
^^'^"^' been framed in such a way as to determine the 
abandonment of the protective system. Former differences 
with regard to the tenure and tlie sale of the public lands 
were put to rest, at least for the time. The system of inter- 
nal improvements, long vexed and still undecided as to 
points of detail, was settled on general principles, establish- 
ing the policy of national though not of local enterprises at 
the charge of the federal government. Financial difficulties 
were also adjusted. The country acquiesced in renouncing 
a national bank and in supporting a national treasury. 
38 



446 TAUT IV. 1797-1850. 

Tlioiigh the public debt was hirpjely increased by the 
expenses of the Mexican war, it occasioned no burdens, 
no altercations ; there was no division as to its management, 
no doubt as to its ultimate payment. All these questions 
had ceased to excite, if* not to interest the nation. 

Nor was there any substantial diH'crence upon 

Orgnniza- •' ^ ^ * _ 

tioiiofoid the organization of the old territories. Wisconsin 
^"^^'^- cimie in quietly as a state, (May 21), 1848.) Ore- 
gon was established as a territory, witli some debate upon 
the exclusion of slavery ; but in this the south as well as 
the north were of much the same niiiul, the line of the Mis- 
souri Compromise being held to extend to the Pacilic. A 
trouble of (piite a difierent sort broke out in connection with 
Oregon ; the Indians of that territory taking up arms, to 
the great peril of its settlers, in the year of its organization, 
(1848.) The next year another territory was peaceably 
organized in Minnesota, (1849.) 

The more tranquil the nation on these points, the 
tion of^^ more irritable it seemed to be upon the points relat- 
new teiri- ing to the recent conquests. California and New 
'^' Mexico required to be organized. The boundary 
between New Mexico and Texas, a subject on which Texan 
claims were very extensive, needed to be defined. Rela- 
tions with the Indian tribes in all the new territory al?o 
demanded attention. Yet there was no such thing as 
deciding any of these matters while they were enveloped in 
the mists of the slavery question. 

Slavery Tliis qucstiou had never assumed vaster pro})or- 
qucstion. ^ions. The annexation of Texas, followed up by 
the war with Mexico, had been regarded, all over the 
country, as committing the nation, more decisively than 
ever before, to the support of slavery. The reasons for this 
view, wheth(.'r well founded or not, stirred up the northern 
sentiment to undo wluit had been done, at the same time 



COMPROMISE OF 1850. 447 

that the southern feeling was equally aroused in carrying 
out the measures which had been begun. The idea at the 
north was this : that the south had gained, in Texas, an 
immense accession of strength, to which no addition was to 
be made, nay, from which, if possible, something was to be 
taken, either by tlie curtailment of the Texan boundary, or 
by preventing the entire Texan territory from being peo- 
pled by slaveholders ; at all events, New Mexico and Cali- 
fornia must be free. From the south, on the other hand, 
there came the demand, first, that Texas must be respected, 
and, next, that the other territories, acquired even more by 
southern exertions than by northern, must be left at liberty 
to choose whether they would or would not hold slaves. It 
was beginning to be known that neither Cahfornia nor New 
Mexico was likely to be slaveholding. But this did not 
diminish the irritation in respect to them. The south was 
naturally disappointed that acquisitions from which they 
had looked for encouragement to their pecuhar interests 
did not preserve the original look of promise ; while the 
north, for the same cause, as naturally indulged in a certain 
exultation. This exultation on one side, and this disap- 
pointment on the other, fomented the strife between the 
contending parties. 

Congress showed a disposition to more decided 

Conven- .°. ,.,i -, ,p 

tioii of action against slavery than it had ever done beiore. 
southern Ji-jgtgr^(j Qf confinino" thcmsclves to the or";anization 

members *=' '^ 

of Con- of the territories, some members suggested the abo- 
giefcs. li^ion of the slave trade, others that of slavery itself, 
in the District of Columbia. Alarmed by these demonstra- 
tions, the southern members met in convention, (December 
23,) and appointed a committee to report upon certain resolu- 
tions in relation to the existing difficulties. Calhoun, still a 
senator, laid an address of the southern delegates to their 
constituents before an adjourned meeting of the convention, 



-118 PART IV. 17!)7-1.S.)0. 

(January 15, IS ID.) The (locumcnt invciirlu'd afrninst the 
aggressions oftlic north, particularly its evasion ol'tlic in;ii- 
tive slav(; law, and its abolitionism. " We ask not," was 
the language of the address, '' as th<^ north alleges we do, 
lor the extension of slavery. Tiiat would make a discrimi- 
nation in our favor as unjust and unconstitutional as the 
discrimination they ask against us in their favor. . . 
A\'liat, then, wc do insist on is, not to ('xtciid ,-la\<i-y. hut 
tliat we sliall not be i)roliibited from innnigrating with our 
l)roi)('rty into the territories of the United .States because 
-Nve are slaveholders." In conclusion, an earnest npjjeal 
"was made to the south to be united. John M. Berrien, a 
senator from Georgia, proposed an address to the jM-ople 
of the United Stiites instead of one to the south alone ; but 
the original address was adopted, (January 22.) Congress, 
meantime sat by, proposing and discussing much, but doing 
nothing beyond extending the revenue laws to California. 
_,, . The whigs had elected the new president, who soon 

The tern- '^ 1 ' 

toriiscie- appeared in the person of the successful general, 
a-ilinst Zachary Taylor, (IMarch.) He took the only stej) 
slavery. u\ his j)ower towards organizing the new territories, 
by instructing the officers stationed in tliem to encourage 
the peo})le to organize themselves. The first to adopt liis 
reeommen<lations were the people of Deseret, the western 
]>art of California, since called Utah, where a nundier of 
INIormons had established their settlements. Next came 
the settlers of Sante Fe county, in New Mexico. But the 
only regular orgimization was that of the Califbrnians, who 
met in convention and adopted a state constitution, (Sep- 
tember, October, 1849.) Every one of these territories 
went against slavery, California expressly prohibiting it in 
her constitution. The north became exultant, the south 
defiant, as the issue of the strife drew nigh. 

Conp-ess met again, to be agitated from tlit; very begin- 



COMPROMISE OF 1850. 449 

nino" of the session. Three weeks elapsed before 
gestscoin- the House of Representatives could even choose 
promise, ^j^^.^ speaker, (December.) Very soon afterwards, 
Senator Foote, of Mississippi, introduced a bill for the 
organization of the territories, (January 16, 1850.) This 
was followed by a series of resolutions proposed by Henry 
Clay, leader in the Missouri and the tariff compromises, 
and now urging a new compromise upon the present diffi- 
culties. Disappointed as he had been in his poHtical hopes, 
a candidate for the presidency for a quarter of a century, 
and though warmly, yet never successfully supported, the 
fervor of his ambition and of his patriotism had never died 
out. He came forward with proposals of concession on 
both the contending sides. The resolutions promised the 
north that the slave trade in the District of Columbia 
should be abolished, and on the other hand assured the 
south that slavery in the District should be maintained for 
the present ; they pledged the north to the restitution of 
fugitive slaves, the south to the admission of California as a 
free state ; while both north and south were to agree in 
organizing the territories, and in deciding the boundary 
between Texas and New Mexico, (January 29.) Weeks 
passed away in vain discussions. The suggestions of com- 
promise pleased neither party, and neither laid aside its 
arms. 

Webster What had been discussed with comparatively 
in debate, ^j^^g powcr now bccamc the subject of grave and 
massive appeals. The extreme views of the south found 
vehement support, chiefly from Calhoun, who had led in 
the same cause for years. On the other side, the extreme 
views of the north were but faintly and feebly urged. The 
great leader of that section aspired to be the great leader 
of the country as a whole. " I speak," said Webster in the 
Senate Chamber, " not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a 
38^ ■ 



450 PART IV. 1797-18.30. 

northorn man, but as an American, and a. member of the 
{Senate of the United States." "I sj)eak," he added, '' for 
the preservation of the Union." Alter adverting to the 
question of slavery in general, and deploring the vehe- 
mence \vith Nvhit'h it was supported at the south, Webster 
passed to the consideration of the territories. Texiu<, he 
averred, was a slave state by the terms of annc^xation ; 
New Mexico and California, on the other hand, were to be 
free states, both by the will of tlieir inhabitants and by the 
nature of their climates and tlu'ir soils. "The whole terri- 
toiy wiiliin the former United States," said AVebster, "or 
in the newly ai'cpiired iNIexican provinces, has a fixed and 
settled character, now fixed and settled by law which can- 
not l)e repeaie(l ; in the case of Texas, without ;i viohition 
of the public faith, and by no human i)0wer in retraid to 
Calilbrnia or New Mexico." It was useless, therefore, and 
worse than useless, he argued, to be wrangling about i)ro- 
visos of Congress to admit or to prohibit slavery. Kecur- 
ring to the subject of slavery, especially to that in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and to the provisions of the law concerning 
fugitive slaves, Webster deprecated the denunciations and 
the menaces of the north as earnestly as he did the passion- 
ate ideas of the south. Men differ as to their estimate of 
the compromise, but none doubt the influence of Webster 
in promoting its adoption. From the day that he spoke as 
has been d<^scribed, (March 7,) th<> compromise was secure. 
But not without continued bitterness in both 

lit'port of 

n.ini)ro- bniiiclies of Cougrcss. The Senate finally ai)point- 
ed a connnittee of thirteen. Clay being chairman, by 
whom the compromise of 18')(), as it is styled, was reported 
in three bills. The first admitted California as a state, 
organized New IMexico and Utah as territories without any 
provision for or against slavery, and arranged the disputed 
boundary between New Mexico and Texas by a large 
iiideimiity to the latter. The second provided for the 



COMPROMISE OF 1850. 451 

recovery of fugitive slaves. The third abolished the slave 
trade in the District of Columbia. The report of the com- 
promise (May 8) was instantly followed by the most 
impassioned debates. It seemed as if there could be no 
conciliation between parties so diverse and so inflamed. 
Its adop- At the height of the controversy, President Tay- 
tion. Iqj. sickened and died, (July 9.) He was suc- 
ceeded by the vice president, Millard Fillmore, who called 
about him a new cabinet, Webster at the head, and threw 
the whole weight of the administration in favor of the com- 
promise. It was at first rejected. But, on the substitution 
of separate bills for each of the measures proposed, they 
were successively adopted by both houses. California was 
admitted a state ; New Mexico and Utah were constituted 
territories, and the payment of ten millions to Texas, on con- 
sideration of the boundary and other questions, was voted ; 
all on the same day, (September 9.) Nine days after, the 
fugitive slave bill became a law, (September 18;) and two 
days later still, the slave trade in the District of Columbia 
was suppressed, (September 20.) So ended, as far as legis- 
lation was concerned, a strife begun with the proviso of 
David Wilmot, more than four years before, and kept up 
during the whole of the intervening period, in Congress and 
throughout the nation. 
„ ,. , It did not yet cease. The president met Con- 

Contmued •/ ^ 

contro- gress at the close of the year with the assurance 
^'^^^^^ that "we have been rescued from the wide and 
boundless agitation that surrounded us, and have a firm, 
distinct, and legal ground to rest upon." Yet, on the floor 
of Congress, in all public places, at the tribunal and in the 
pulpit, as well as in private, around the table and at the 
hearth, the nation was disputing both about the points 
disposed of and about the manner in which they had been 
disposed. Unlike the compromises of earlier years, the 
compromise of 1850 did no't bring peace. 



CHAPTER X. 

National Di:vKLorMENT, 

T, , The accession to the luitional torritory follow- 

Dovolop- •' 

meiit of ing tlie annexation of Texas and the war with 
^>ry. ]^[^.J.^(.^J j,.^^ been described. Vast as it was, it 
was much less than th(; increase wliieli had already taken 
j)lace. At the close of the revohition, the United States, 
not then extending to tlie Mississij)pi, enil)raced upwards of 
eight hundred thousand square miles. There were nearly 
four times as many, or upwards of twenty-nine hundred 
thousand, at the period which we have reached. Of the 
twenty-one hundred thousand thus added to the original 
eiglit, nearly nine came with Louisiana, (1803,) nearly one 
with Florida, (1819,) more than three with Oregon, (184G,) 
making thirteen, in addition to which were the tlu-ee of 
Texi\3, (1845,) and the live of Mexico, (1848.) 
Ofpopuia- The increase of population was still more re- 
tioa. markable. It did not spring from the extension of 
territory. All the twenty-one hundred tliousand square 
miles, just mentioned, contained not two hundred thousand 
wliites, even including the natives of tlie United Stales, 
who, as in Texas and Oregon, were but brouglit back to tlie 
fold of the nation. Yet tlu^ numbers of the United States 
had now swelled to ui>wards of twenty-three millions from 
the three millions at the end of the revolutionary jicriod. 
Of the twenty-three millions, three were slaves, or live times 
as many as there were in 1783. The free population was 

(■i.32) 



I 



NAT^IONAL DEVELOPMENT. 453 

not merely five times, but eight times as numerous ; twenty- 
four hundred thousand in 1783, and in 1850, full twenty 
millions. Of this great number, less than an eighth were of 
foreign birth, but of the other seven-eighths and more, a 
large number were children of foreign born parents. Immi- 
gration had added immensely to the population, especially 
in the last quarter of a century. In ten years of the pre- 
ceding century, (1790-1800,) there were but fifty thousand 
arrivals; in one year of the present period, (1849-1850,) 
there were two hundred and eighty thousand. In summing 
up the population, we must add to the twenty-three millions, 
already stated, about four hundred thousand as the number 
of the Indians within the country. Rather less than half of 
these were dwellers in the more recently acquired territories ; 
rather less than a fourth probably were the descendants of 
those in the United States just after the revolution. To the 
east of the Mississippi, none but a few scattered families of 
the aboriginal race remained. 

Ofoccu- With such an expansion in population, and in 
patiou. territory, there was of necessity an expansion in oc- 
cupation. Old pursuits w^ere em^braced by greater numbers, 
and followed out mth greater resources to greater results. 
Such inventions as Eli Whitney's cotton gin, to separate 
cotton from the seed, (1793,) or Cyrus H. McCormick's 
reaper, to gather in a crop, (1847,) in ways no manual 
labor could compete with, enlarged the sphere of agricultural 
production. The earliest cotton mills were those of Rhode 
Island, (1790,) the earliest woollen, in which the poAver 
loom was used, were those of Massachusetts, (1807 ;) the 
beginnings of the manufactures that became a great political 
as well as industrial interest at a later time. The chief 
occupation of the early time was still chief; out of six 
millions free males above fifteen years old, two millions and 
a half were now engaged in agriculture and its kindred 



451 TAUT IV. 1 707-1 K-'A 

labor;?. To tlils niHnlxM- inu.>t be juMctl tho liirpor propor- 
t'nm of tli«* nearly one inillion slave mules above iifteen, em- 
ployed in tlie same way. Next to a^M-ienltnre came the 
trades and the manufaeturos, emj)loyin;( not far from two 
millions. A million and a half remained for other occupa- 
tions, including those of commerce, which, like afi:riculture 
and majuifacture, was greatly extended beyond its Ibrmer 
limits. Of the class set down as professional or educational, 
the numbers were estimated at from two to three hundicd 
thousand ; an immense increase, compared with the numbers 
of the past. New pursuits blended in with the old. Tii<*r<} 
was a constant trial of means as yet untried, a constant 
striving after ends as yet unattained. Inventions multi- 
l)lied, labors expanded; and not in any one du-ection, but on 
all sides. 

Of invest- Increased toils led to increased returns, and these 
monts. ^Q increased investments in the various branches of 
industry. To measure the investments by the annual re- 
sults, we find the products of agriculture for a single year 
estimated at thirteen hundred millions of dollars. The 
total return for trades and manufactures was ten hundred 
millions. Commercial statistics exhibit imports to the value 
of above one hundred and seventy-five, and exports to that 
of above one hundred and fifty millions. Such figures are 
confusing from their very vastness. Nor are they altogether 
safe as indications of the actual capital in the country. No 
peo[)le ever trusted so little to capital and so much to credit, 
as the growing nation of the United States. 

To make the resources and the exertions of the 

Ofri.m- 

niuiiira- nation eifective, there had come into use new meth- 
tiaiifl. ^^^ ^^ communication. The early canals, of little 
extent or imj)ortanee, were followed by a series of very re- 
markable works, foremost amongst which were the Erie 
Canal of New York, (1825,) and the Ohio Canid fiom Lake 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 455 

Erie to the Ohio, (1832.) The first steamboat, the Cler- 
mont, the work of Robert FuUon, appeared upon the 
Hudson in 1807. After a long intei^val, the passage of the 
Atlantic was made by the Savannah steamer, (1819.) 
First of our railways was the Quincy in Massachusetts, a 
single track of between three and four miles, to transport 
granite from a quarry to the water's edge, (1827.) The 
first locomotive was used upon the Hudson and Mohawk 
Railroad, (1832.) More recently, the invention of the elec- 
tric telegraph, first constructed between Washington and 
Baltimore, by Samuel F. B. Morse, (1844,) completed the 
means of communication. At the close of the period, there 
were in operation twenty thousand miles of telegraphic wires, 
sixteen thousand of railways, four thousand five hundred of 
canals, to say nothing of the countless spaces traversed by 
the steamers of our rivers, our lakes, and our seas. 
Of educa- ^^ mucli physical development was not unattended 
tion. ^j development of a higher sort. The system of 
public schools had extended from the places where the first 
were founded throughout most, but not all of the country. 
A national provision for their support in the new states of 
the west and the south was made by the appropriation of 
lands in every township of the public domain ; a total of 
nearly fifty milhons of acres being thus divided amongst 
the states and territories. Of the older states, the larger 
number had their school funds devoted to the same great 
object. The number of schools grew to be nearly one 
hundred thousand ; that of their teachers was about the 
same. Private schools and colleges kept pace with the 
general increase ; the former amounting to upwards of six 
thousand ; the latter, including professional and scientific 
schools, to several hundred. Nor was it only in point of 
numbei's that educational institutions were growing. They 
gave much better proof of progress in their studies and their 



IDStUU 

timis. 



450 PART IV. 1707-1850. 

methoils of instniclioii ; not, iiulced, that these reached the 
true staiitlaid of tlif .<cholar, but that they were much less 
remote Iroui it tliaii tlic schools and the colleges of older 
times. 

National "^'''^ nation luid its institutions. A Military 
Academy, lirst su«;2est(Hl by Washincrton, was es- 
tabHsiied at AVest Point, (1802.) A :Naval Acad- 
emy, recomuiciidcd by John Quincy Adams, was oj)en('d 
long afterwards at Annapolis, (1845.) All the conmienda- 
tions of Washington, Jelferson, Madison, and th(^ second 
Adams, u})on the subject of a national university, were 
fruitless. IJut much that would have been accomplished by 
such an insti-tution was done at the ofFices of observation and 
of publication connected with the academies just mentioned, 
and with the various departments at Washington. A large 
bequest from James Smithson, of London, was received, 
and several years later, (184G,) applied by the United 
States, as the testator had directed, " to found at Washing- 
ton, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an 
establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge 
amongst men." 

Ex lorin ^"*^ enterprise of the government for the advance- 
Expodi- ment of knowledge is to be gratefully recorded. An 
Exploring Expedition, consisting of several vessels 
under tlie command of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes, attached 
to whom was a body of scientific men, sailed (1838) on an 
extended cruise througli the Antarctic and Pacific Oceans. 
The chief discovery of the expedition was that supposed to 
have been made of an antarctic continent ; but this was 
not entirely confirmed. More certain, therefore, were the 
results derived from the precise investigations of sea and 
shore, including races and productions, Avherever the ex- 
plorers passed. A voyage of nearly four years ended with 
honor to them, and advantage not only to their country, but 
to the world, (1812.) 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 457 

The press. ^^tivitj was iiowhere more marked than in the 
press. Where a few movements, sluggish in them- 
selves, and broken by interference from without, had been 
perceptible, there now prevailed an activity only too rest- 
less. The department of newspapers was become perhaps 
the busiest of all. The enterprise of their publishers and 
their editors was something remarkable even in the land of 
enterprise ; nor was that of their readers less remarkable, one 
may say, considering the number of papers required to satisfy 
an individuaL The number of newspapers — thirty-five at 
the beginning of the revolution — amounted at last to be- 
tween twenty-five hundred and three thousand. It might be 
suj^posed that other publications would suffer ; but not so. 
Ahnost as many books as journals issued from the press, some 
foreign, others original publications, on every sort of subject, 
and in every sort of form. Amongst the most characteristic 
as well as the most serviceable inventions of the time was 
that of a printing press by wliich thousands of impressions 
could be taken in an hour ; the inventor was Richard M. 
Hoe, (1847.) Other contrivances added to the facihty of 
printing, so much so, that what was a work of years, the 
century before, was now the work only of days. In all this 
multipHcation of methods and of results, good and evil were 
necessarily blended. The number of publications proves 
development in one way ; but whether there was develop- 
ment in another and a higher way, depended on their char- 
acter. Every one knows how various this was, how various 
it is still. 

Libraries Publications increasing, libraries increased. The 
scanty repositories of a hundred years previous were 
augmented or succeeded by far more numerous and far more 
valuable collections. Private libraries became compara- 
tively general ; public ones comparatively universal. From 
the university collection of thousands down to the Sunday 



458 PART IV. 1797-I80O. 

school oaso of fifty or a liundnMl volumes, the number of 
])ublic lil)rariL'S is estimated to have been more than lifteen 
thoiisaiul. Of course, there was the utmost diversity in 
])oint of importauee ; some libraries, enumerated in the list, 
being totally undeserving of the name. None, not even the 
largest, compared with the great libraries of Europe, where 
books had been accumulating for centuries, and where ample 
endowments kept up the increase year by year. Nor, to 
speak gen(?i*ally, did the character of our libraries correspond 
with that of an equally large number of books in a Euro- 
jxT.n collection ; ours being too often filled by purchases or 
by donations made at random. A new era in American li))ra- 
ries began not so much with the foundation, as with the 
formation of the Astor Library in New York, at the very 
close of the period comi)rehended in this volume. The col- 
lection of books commenced there for the benefit alike of the 
most contemplative and the most practical student, rather 
than of tlie mere reader, may well serve as an example to 
the nation. 
T.. One branch of the national literature has been 

Litera- 
ture: po- touched upon and quoted fi-om in the preceding 

' '^ pages. The political writings of the time, constitu- 
tional and administrative, belong too much to the world of 
action to be viewed merely as works of thought. Few of 
them, indeed, bear marks of lofty contemplation, or of ab- 
stract reasoning ; the greater number, absorb"d in fleeting 
circumstances,. show little sensibility to the broad relations 
and the enduring principles of governmeut. Such produc- 
tions as those of Webster and Calhoun are rare exce})tions. 
If we see the dust of the day's strife upon them, it does 
not lie thickly enough to obscure the solemnity or the bril- 
liancy, as the case may be, of the cause for Avhich tliey plead. 
Tiiooiugi- Theological literature maintained its hold ; and 
•^- more natui'ally now that it comprehended the 



i 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 459 

writings of various churches, instead of being confined to 
the one or two of the colonial period. Chief amongst the 
successors of the early churchmen was John Henry Hobart, 
Bishop of New York, in whom earnestness and learning 
were remarkably combined. At the head of those succeed- 
ing the early Puritans were Moses Stuart and William 
Ellery Channing, the former the leader of the old school, 
the latter of the new or liberal one. Both were men of 
great research and of great power. Both went beyond the 
limits of theological writings, especially Channing, whose 
works on education and on the great interests of humanity 
are more likely to endure than those upon points of theol- 
ogy. The Presbyterians had their expositor in Archibald 
Alexander, the Methodists theirs in Stephen Olin. Amongst 
the Roman Catholics, the principal theologian was John 
England, Bishop of Charleston. 

Allied by its gravity to the productions that have 
been mentioned was the legal literature of the 
period. The laws of the United States were expounded by 
James Kent and Joseph Story ; those of nations by Henry 
"Wheaton. Of the large number distinguished in one walk 
or another of jurisprudence, Edward Livingston, the author 
of a system of a penal code for the State of Louisiana, and 
subsequently of a system of penal laws for the United 
States, and Hugh Swinton Legare, not so much a writer as 
a jurist, were both eminent. 

Histor- Omitting the works of the living, little remains to 

icai. constitute a historical literature during the period. 
Jeremy Belknap's History of New Hampshire and Abiel 
Holmes's American Annals are the only productions that 
merit especial mention. Both appeared near the beginning 
of the period ; a long interval elapsed without producing 
any histories worthy of the name. 

Scientific works were more numerous. John Picker- 



4(')0 TART IV. 17n7-ia')0. 

ill": and Albert Gallivtin took tlio load in pliilolocrv, 
particularly in the Indian langiiagu."^ ; both being 
eminent for other studies. Alexander Wilson, a Scotch- 
man by birtli, ])Ml>lished an Ann riean Ornithology, after- 
\vards continued l)y another foreigner, Charles Lueien 1)0- 
naparte. John dames Audubon, l)orn in Louisiana long 
before its aecpiisition by the United States, was the author 
of tlie Birds of America, and subsequently, in conjunction 
Mitli his sons, of the Quadrupeds of America. Higher 
than any other name of the time in science, stands that of 
Nathaniel Uowditch, the translator and the commentator 
of the Mecanique Celeste of Laplace, the great astronomer 
and mathematician of France. 

Loiies While such were the graver studies of men, oth- 

lettivs. gpg of jj lighter character were not neglected. In 
the cultivation of the belles lettres, a growing number was 
interested. Touching, w^e may say, are the accounts of the 
associations formed at the opening of the period, to fan the 
few sparks of general scholarship that tlien existed. Soon 
individuals appeared, some collecting, others comj)osing 
books upon the subjects that they loved. A more graceful 
aspect was thus given to the intellectual pursuits of the 
nation. Towards the close of the period we find Kicliard 
Henry Wilde, a native of Dublin, devoting his fine ])Owers 
to the memory of the Italian poets, while the English 
authors, Shakespeare and Wordsworth especially, received 
tlie tributes offered them by the pure taste and the pure 
lieai't of Henry Reed. 

Fiction had its votaries. Charles Brockden 
Brown began upon his romances at the close of the 
eighteenth century. He dealt with unnatural occurrences 
and exaggerated emotions, — the groper, as it were, into 
the realms which no one of his nation had entered before 
him. Twenty years later, James Fenimore Cooper 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 461 

brouglit out the earliest of tliat remarkable series of novels 
in which the Indian character was portrayed. He then 
turned to the sea, describing its wonders and its heroes. 
Not his own country alone, but other countries, welcomed 
the master, the first of all Americans to be acknowledged 
such in the world of imagination. A later novelist, and 
one of a very different mould, appeared in William Ware, 
whose Letters from Palmyra, or Zenobia, transported the 
reader from the freshness of the present to the decaying 
grandeurs of antiquity. 

xhe James A. Hillhouse was the ideal dramatist, 

drama, John Howard Payne the real. The former wrote 
his Percy's Masque from an English ballad, his Hadad 
from scriptural associations ; the latter sought the materials 
of his Brutus and his Clari amidst the copies and the tin- 
sels of the stage. Hillhouse deserves the name of poet. 
He was one of the first, the very first, of the present period 
to form a drama as one would form a poem, lofty and serene. 
The staple literature of the drama was like Payne's produc- 
tions, fit for the glare of the theatre, and fit for that alone. 
Poetry was beginning to find a place in Ameri- 
can hterature. Maria Brooks, the impassioned au- 
thor of Zophiel, was a very different creature from the 
poets or poetesses of colonial times. Quite as imaginative, 
and far more delicate, was the fancy of Joseph Rodman 
Drake, who died so young that the poems he left were but 
the signs of what he might have done. A longer life was 
given to James Gates Percival, whose occasional pieces are 
full of rhythmic inspiration. Above them all, in point of 
purity and of devotion, if not of imagination, was William 
Croswell. His poems are but the flowers dropped along 
the path of priestly offices. Yet had they, and not the 
offices, been his work of works, he would not have lived in 
vain. Almost the same words may be written of Andrews 
39* 



dC2 PART IV. 1797-18.50. 

Norton, wliose little cluster of hymns will move many anfl 
many a heart beyond the reach of the theological and crit- 
ical compositions in wliich he spent his days. 

In art, likewise, the nation w\'is rousinj; itself. 
Gilbert Stuart was the great portrait painter of his 
day. Jolm Trumbull, if not a great historical painter, was 
more than equal to the majority then engaged in that 
branch of art. Then came Washington Allston, at once the 
historical and the portrait painter, the landscape and the 
ideal artist, in whom sublimity and delicacy, the grandeur 
of spirit and the accuracy of detail, all found expression. 
It seemed as if it must have been some other land than 
ours, so material, so absorbed in the interests and in the 
strifes of outward life, that gave Allston being. But he 
came; and after him there has come a line of painters and 
sculptors who look back to Allston as to their leader and 
their head. . Of these, it becomes us to mention only the 
dei)arted. Bin; the names of Thomas Cole, the painter, a 
native of England, and of Horatio Greenough, the sculptor, 
are such as to stand a\ itli honor for the living as well as for 
the dead. 

Of the religious development of the nation it is 
develop- difficult to take any suitable notice in limits so con- 
"^°" ■ fined as these. From one point of view, that of the 
strict schools, — no matter to what church they belonged, — 
there was a retrocession rather than an advance in religious 
interests. From the opposite point of view — that of the lib- 
eral schools — the advance was ])ronounced incomparable 
and irresistible. Between these contradictory opinions the 
truth lay. Religion was not more widely or more truly, but 
more mildly, j)rofessed. Its followers, with few exceptions, 
had ]nit off their armor. Persecution, it is true, was not 
wholly abandoned ; if it did not wear its ancient forms, it 
came forth from time to time in unmistakable reality, some- 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 463 

times on religious, sometimes on political or on social 
grounds. But there was no. longer the same strife that 
there had been amongst creeds and fonms. The very mul- 
tiplicity of these was enough to distract the champions who 
would fain do violence in behalf of their own cause. So 
many, indeed, were the adversaries outside of any single 
church, that men turned against one another on the inside, 
the bitterest contentions arising between different parties 
within the same fold. In point of mere names and num- 
bers, the churches of the early time retained much the same 
relative position in the later period. If any had altered in 
this respect, it was the Roman Catholics, to whom large 
accessions had been made by immigration ; but they still 
formed a small proportion of the mass of Christians. On 
the Protestant side, the Protestant Episcopal church re- 
sumed its earlier station between the Roman Catholics and 
other denominations. Amongst the later additions to the 
sects was the Mormon community, which, after various 
migrations, settled in Utah Territory, (1847.) 

No clearer proof of the national development, 
both spiritual and physical, could appear than in the 
charities of the time. The extent to which these were, car- 
ried, especially towards the close of the period, shows all 
the increase of resources, all the expansion of principles, 
that had come to pass. The sums expended by the state 
and town authorities for the support of paupei-s alone 
amounted to three million dollars by the year. To this 
must be added the much larger sums devoted by associa- 
tions and by individuals for the relief of almost every form 
of want and of crime. All this was the more generously 
expended in being expended to a great degi'ee for the ben- 
efit of foreigners, who constituted a large portion of the 
wretched, and by far the largest portion of the wretched of 
the lowest order. Besides the succor thus given to the 



404 PART IV. 1797-18.30. 

most pressin;^ norcssitirs, tlu^ circlf of cliarity emhrarcd 
many enterprise.s of a higher character. Tlie insane, first 
cared for in the Lunatic Asylum of Williamsburg, Vir- 
ginia, (1773,) became the objects of charitable action 
throughout the country. The Friends' Lunatic Asylum 
was opened near Pliiladelj)hia, (1817;*) the American 
Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford, (1817;) the 
Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the 
lUiiid in Ho^ton, (1832;) the Massachusetts School for 
Idiotic and Feeble-minded Youtli, also in Bu>ton, (1818 ;) 
all these being pioneers in labors greatly extended after- 
wards. Another class of charities is represented by the 
associations for the improvement of prisons and the refor- 
mation of prisoners; the Philadelphia societies (177G-87) 
leading the way. In this connection may be mentioned the 
abolition of imprisonment for debt, begun upon by Congress 
at an early date, (1792,) and afterwards generally carried 
out by state legislation. Religious and missionary bodies 
were also active in the cause of cliarity. The Pennsyl- 
vania Bible Society (1808) and the American Board of 
Foreign Missions (1810) were followed by a long line of 
associations intent upon saving the souls of men. 



-, , Remembering all that has gone before, the fee- 

Concia- " '^ ' 

sion: the blcucss, the Strife, the continued errors of the earlier 
thi! I'res- ^^'^5 ^"^'^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^' likely to fall into the vein of 
ent. overvaluing it, or of undervaluing the succeeding 

era. Nor, on the other hand, remembering the later events 
of our history, shall we imagine that the present puts the 
past to shame. Both periods have their virtues ; both their 
vices. If the past is to be regretted, it is only because its 

♦ Lunatics were received in the Pennsylvania Hospital from 17-52. 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 465 

power to do evil was less ; if the present bears away the 
palm, it is only because its power to do good is greater ; the 
increased resources and the increased responsibilities of the 
later period constituting the real distinction between it and 
the earlier. It is the distinction between every preceding 
and every succeeding epoch, the only true progress of 
humanity. 

The same truth will help us to estimate the part 
fhe nation ^^ *^® natiou in liumau history, that is, its relation 
in human to other nations and to the common destinies of 
mankind. We are not to suppose the United States 
in the front of the universe, nor, on the contrary, place 
them in the rear, simply because they are young and free. 
Youth implies both vigor and . immaturity, and when a 
nation possesses not only youth but freedom, the certainty 
of its being both vigorous and immature is confirmed. 
Such is our position ; we are strong, but we are unformed. 
If we are younger than other countries, it is not altogether 
to our advantage ; there may be the more for us to learn 
and to do before we become a complete nation. So, too, 
in being freer than other nations, we are exposed to dan- 
gers from which they are sheltered by their very bondage. 
The tendencies to lawlessness and to disunion are written 
in men's actions all around us. They must be met, checked, 
^nd subdued, before our republic is safe in itself or noble in 
the eyes of the stranger. On both grounds, therefore, — on 
that of youth and that of freedom, — we are under responsi- 
bilities that sometimes seem greater than the accompanying 
privileges. At the same time, there is no doubt that we are 
the gainers by coming late and by coming free upon the 
stage of history. We have been animated by the great- 
ness, warned by the weakness, of earlier times. Their bur- 
dens are not upon our shoulders, their bonds are not upon 
our limbs ; what has been is not perpetually clashing with 



466 PART IV. 1797-1&')0. 

what is, or with wliat oii^ht to be. Great, indeed, are our 
h'ssons, and f^reat our resources ; groat, therefore, should be 
our d«'eds. 11' they are not so, our rank, liislorieally, sinks 
to insignifieanee. But if they are, if the deeds bear full 
j)roportion to the resources and the lessons, then, and then 
only, the part of the nation in human history will rise to 
majesty. 



i 

i 
i 



APPENDIX. 



EUROPEAN SOVEREIGNS, 

AT 4.NT TIME RULIXG, OR CLAIMING RULE, OVER ANY PART OF THB 
PRESENT UNITED STATES. 





Spain. 




England. 


1492. 


Ferdinand and Isabella. 


1492. 


Henry VII. 


Io04. 


Ferdinand, Philip, and Jo- 


1.509. 


Henry VIII. 




anna. 


1.547. 


Edward VI. 


1-516. 


Charles I., (the Fifth of 


1.5.5.3. 


]Mary. 




Germany.) 


1.5a8. 


Elizabeth. 


looG. 


Philip II. 


1603. 


James I. 


1.598. 


Pliilip III. 


1625. 


Charles I. 


1021. 


Philip IV. 


[1649 


. Commonwealth.] 


16r>5. 


Charles II. 


1660. 


Charles U. 


1700. 


Philip V. 


168.5. 


James 11. 


17-16. 


Ferdinand VI. 


1689. 


Wilham and ]^Iary. 


17.59. 


Charles III. 


1702. 


Anne. 


1788. 


Charles IV. 


1714. 


George I. 


1808. 


Joseph Napoleon. 


1727. 


George II. 


1814. 


Ferdinand VII. 


1760. 


George III. 




France. 




Holland. 


1.51.5. 


Francis I. 


Stadtholders and Captains Gen 


1.547. 


Henry n. 




eral. 


1.5.59. 


Francis II. 


1584. 


Maurice of Orange. 


1.560. 


Charles IX. 


1625. 


Frederic Henry. 


1.574. 


Henry IH. 


1647. 


Wilham II. 


1.589. 


Henr^' IV. 


[1650 


. Common-vvealth.] 


1610. 


Loms XIII. 


1674. 


William in. 


164.3. 


Louis XIV. 






171.5. 


Louis XV. 




Sweden. 


1774. 


Louis XVI. 






[1792 


. Revolution.] 


1609. 


Gustavus Adolphxis. 


1804. 


Napoleon. 


1632. 


Christina. 

(467) 



4G8 



ArPENDIX. 



II 



AMERICAN AUTHORITIES. 



I. Presidents of the Continental Congress. 



1774. PeytDU Randolph, 
Henry MitUUcton, 

1775. Peyton Randolph. 
Jolui Hancock, 

1777. Henry I>aurcns, 

1778. John Jiiy, 

177U. »Sinnuel ilunthigton, 

1781. Thomas McKeau, 
John Hanson, 

1782. EHas iJoudinot, 
1788. Tlunnas Mittiin, 
178-1. Richard Henry Lcc, 
178G. Nathai\icl Gorliam, 

1787. Arthur St. Clair, 

1788. Cyrus Criffiu, 



of Virj^inia. 

" South Cai-olina. 

•* Massachusetts. 

" South Carolina. 

** New York. 

<' Connecticut. 

" Hehnvare. 

" Maryland. 

*• New Jersey. 

** Pennsylviuiia. 

<' Virginia. 

<' Massachusetts. 

«' Pennsylvania. 

" Yii-ghna. 



II. National Administrations. 



1. 1789-97. 



President. 

George Washington. 

Vice President. 

John Adams. 

Secretaries of State. 

1780. Thomas Jefferson. 
1791. Ednumd liandolph. 
1795. Timothy Pickering. 

Secretaries of the Treastmj. 

1789. Alexander Hamilton. 
1795. Ohver Wolcott 

Secretaries of War. 

1789. Henry Knox. 
1795. Timothy Pickering. 
179G. James McHcnry. 



Postmasters Geiicral. 
1789. Samuel Osgood. 

1794. Timothy Pickering. 

1795. Joseph Habersham. 

Attorneys General. 
1789. Edmund Randolph. 

1794. AViUiam Bradford. 

1795. Charles Lee. 

Chief Justices. 
1789. John Jay. 

1796. Wilham dishing. 
Oliver Ellsworth. 

Speakers of the House of Eepre- 

sejitatioes. 
1789. Frederic A. Muhlenberg. 
1791. Jonathan Trumbull. 
1793. Frederic A. Muhlenberg. 
1795. Jonathan Dayton. 



APPENDIX. 



469 



2. 1797-1801. 



Presidetit. 

John Adams. 

Vice President, 

Thomas Jefferson. 

Secretaries of State. 

Timothy Pickeiing. 
1800. John Marshall. 

Secretaries of the Treasury. 

OHver Wolcott. 
1800. ISamuel Dexter. 

Secretaries of War. 
James McHenry. 

1800. Samuel Dexter. 

1801. Roger Griswold. 



Secretary of the Navy. 

1798. Benjamin Stoddert. 

Postmaster General. 

Joseph Habersham. 

Attorney General. 

Charles Lee. 

Chief Justices. 

OHver Ellsworth. 
1801. John Marshall. 



Speaken 



of the House of Rej^re- 
sentatives. 



Jonathan Dayton. 
1799. Theodore Sedgwick. 



3. 1801-09. 



President. 

Thomas Jefferson. 

Vice Presidents. 

1801. Aaron Bnrr. 
1805. George Clinton. 

Secretary of State. 

1801. James Madison. 

Secretaries of the Treasury. 

Samuel Dexter. 

1802. Albert GaUatin. 

Sccre^ry of War. 
1801. Henry Dearborn. 

Secretaries of the Navy. 
Benjamin Stoddert. 



1802. Robert Smith. 

1805. Jacob Crowninshield. 

Postmasters General. 

Joseph Habersham. 
1802. Gideon Granger. 

Attorneys General, 

1801. Leid Lincoln. 

1805. Robert Smith. 

1806. John Breckenridge. 

1807. Cffisar A. Rochiey. 

Chief Justice. 
John Marshall. 

Speahe)'s of the House of Rein'o- 

sentatives. 
1801. Nathaniel Macon. 
1807. Joseph B. Varnum. 



4. 1809-17. 



President. 
James Madison. 

40 



Vice Presidents, 

1809. George Clinton. 
1813. Elbridge Gerry. 



470 



ATPENDIX. 



Secretaries of Fitatc. 

1809. K(ibort Smith. 
1811. James Monroe. 

Secretaries of the Treasury. 

Albert (jullatin. 

1814. Ueor«i;e W. Campl>cll. 
Alexander J. DiUlas. 

Secretaries of ]Var. 

1809. AVilliam Eustis. 
1813. John Armstrong. 
IS 11. James Monroe. 

1815. AVilUam II. Crawford. 

Secretaries of the yavi/. 

1809. Paul Hamilton. 

1813. WilHani Jones. 

1814. Benj. W. Cro^^'lunslucld. 



Pnsfmastrrs General. 

Ciideon (i ranger. 
1814. Return J. Meigs. 

Attorneys General. 

Ca'sar A. Kodncy. 
1811. Wilham Pinkney. 

1814. Kieluud Rush. 

Chief Justice. 
Jolin Marsliall. . 

Speakers of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

Joseph li. Yaniuui 
1811. Henry Clay. 
1813. Langdon Cheves. 

1815. Keiury Clay. 



5. 1817-25. 



r resident. 
James Monroe. 

Vice President. 
Daniel D. Tompkins. 
Secretary of State. 
1817. John Q. Adams. 

Secretary of the Treasury. 
1817. AVilliam H. Cra^^'ford. 
Secretary of War. 

1817. John C. Calhoun. 
Secretaries of the Xai'y. 

Bcnj. W. CroA^^linshield. 

1818. Smith Thomjjson. 



1&23. Samuel L. Southard. 
Postmasters General. 

Return J. Meigs. 
1823. Jolm McLean. 



1817. 



Attoryieys General. 

Ricliard Rush. 
William AVirt. 



Chief Justice. 
John Marshall. 

S})cakcrs of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 
Henry Clav.^ 

1820. John W. favlor. 

1821. Philip r. Parbour 
1823. Henrv Chty. 



6. 
President. 
John Quiney Adams. 

Vice Prcsidt'nt. 
Jolui C. Calhoun. 



1825-29. 

Secretary of State. 
1825. Henry Clay. 

Secretary of the Treasury. 
1825. Ricliard Rush. 



APPENDIX. 



471 



Secreidries of War. 
1825. James Barbour. 
1828. Peter B. Porter. 

Secretary of the Navy. 
Samuel L. Southard. 

Postmaster General. 
John McLean. 



Attorney General, 
William Wirt. 

Chief Justice. 
John Marshall. 
Speakers of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 
1825. John W. Taylor. 
1827. Andrew Stevenson. 



7. 1829-37. 



President. 
Andrew Jackson. 
Vice Presidents. 
1829. John C. Calhoun. 
1833. Martin Van Buren. 

Secretaries of State. 
1829. Martin Van Buren. 
1831. Edward Livingston. 

1833. L6uis McLane. 

1834. John Forsyth. 

Secretaries of the Treasury. 
1829. Samuel D. Ingham. 
1831. Louis McLane. 

1833. Wilham J. Duane. 
Roger B. Taney. 

1834. Levi Woodbury. 

Secretaries of War. 
1829. Jolm H. Eaton. 
1831. Lewis Cass. 



Secretaries of the Navy. 
1829. John Branch. 
1831. Levi Woodbury. 

1834. Mahlon Dickerson. 

Postmasters General. 
1829. Wniiam T. Barry. 

1835. Amos Kendall. 

Attorneys General. 
1829. John M. Berrien. 
1831. Eoger B. Taney. 
1834. Benjamin F. Butler. 

Chief Justices. 
Jolm Marshall. 

1836. Roger B. Taney. 

Speakers of the Ilotise of Repre- 
sentatives. 

Andrew Stevenson. 

1834. John Bell. 

1835. James K. Polk. 



8. 1837-41 



President. 
Martin Van Buren. 

Vice President. 

Richard M. Johnson. 

Secretary of State. 

John Forsyth. 

Secretary of the Treasury, 

Levi Woodbury. 



Secretary of War, 

1837. Joel R. Poinsett. 
Secretaries of the Navy, 

Mahlon Dickerson. 

1838. James K. Paulding. 

Postmastei's General. 

Amos Kendall. 
1840. Jolm M. Niles. 



472 



ArPENinx. 



Attnrnoys Gcnernl. 

lUiijamiii F. liutlor. 
1838. Fdix (iruiuly. 
LSiO. Henry 1). Gilpin. 

Chivf Justice. 
lloger B. Taney. 



Spcakms of ihe Unxise of Rcpre- 
stntativts. 

Jjunw K. l*()lk. 
1839. Uubcrt M. T. Hunter. 



9. 1841-45. 



Prrsidents. 



William Heniy Harrison. 
Jolui Tyler. 

Vice President. 

Jolm Tyler. 

) Secretaries of State. 

1841. Daniel Webster. 
1813. Hugh S. Lej>ar6. 
Abel P. Upshur. 
1841. John C. Calhoun. 

Secretaries of the Treasury. 

1841. Thomas Ewinp:. 
Walter Forward. 

1843. John C. Spencer. 

1844. George M. Bibb. 

Secretaries of War. 

1841. John Bell. 

John ('. Spencer. 

1843. James M. I'orter. 

1844. AVilliiuu Wilkins. 



Secretaries of the Navy. 

1841. George E. Badger. 
Abel r. Ui)shur. 

1843. l)a\'id Henshaw. 

1844. TlKmuLs W. (iilnier 
John Y. Mason. 

Postmasters General. 

1841. Francis Grander. 

Charles A. \N'ickliffe. 

Attorneys General.. 

1841. Jolm J. Crittenden. 

Hugh S. LegfU'c. 
1843. Jolm Nelson. 

Chief Justice. 
lloger B. Taney. 

Spcahei'S of the House of Repre 
senfatives. 

1841. John White. 
1843. Jolm W. Jones. 



10. 1845-49. 



President. 
James Knox Polk. 

Vice President. 
George M. Dallas. 
Srcrrtnry nf State. 
18 lo. James Buch;uian. 

Secretary of the Treasury. 
184J. Robert J. Walker. 



Secretary nf War. 

184.5. William L. Marcy. 

Secretaries of the Xavy, 

184.5. George Bancroft. 
1846. John Y. Mason. 

Postmaster General, 
184-5. Cave Johnson. 



APPENDIX. 



473 



Attorneys General. 

1845. John Y. Mason. 

1846. Nathan Clifibrd. 
1848. Isaac Toucey. 

Chief Justice. 
Roger B. Taney. 



Speakers of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

1845. John W. Davis. 
1847. Robert C. Winthrop. 



11. 1849-50. 



Presidents. 

1849. Zachary Taylor. 

1850. Millard Fillmore. 

Vice President. 
Millard Fillmore. % 
Secretaries of State. 

1849. John M. Clayton. 

1850. Daniel Webster. 

Secretaries of the Treasury. 

1849. William M. Meredith. 

1850. Thomas Cor win. 

Secretaries of War. 

1849. George W. Crawford. 

1850. Charles M. Conrad. 

Seci'etaries of the Navy. 
1849. William B. Preston. 
40* 



1850. William A. Graham. 
Secretaries of the Interior. 

1849. Thomas Ewing. 

1850. Alexander H. H. Stuart. 

Postmasters General 

1849. Jacob Collamer. 

1850. Nathan K. HaU. 

Attorneys General. 

1849. Reverdy Johnson. 

1850. Jolm J. Crittenden. • 

Chief Justice. 
■ Roger B. Taney. 

Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

1849. Howell Cobb. 



INDEX, 



Abenakis, 57. 

wars with, 118-20. 

Abolitionism, 166, 304, 408. 
Acadie, 18, 19, 138, 142, 145, 149. 
Acts of Parliament, 105, 174, 175, 

186, 187, 193, 195, 198, 200, 201, 

203, 208, ^11. 
Adams, John, 197, 203, 204, 222, 

223, 240, 263, 276, 297, 307, 316, 

325, 326, 331, 332. 
Adams, John Quincy, 312, 375, 386, 

390-93, 395. 
Adams, Samuel, 199, 203. 
Administrations, 468. 
Admiralty, 169, 187. 
Africans, 60. 

Alabama, 141, 337, 382, 396, 402. 
Alexandria Convention, 280. 
Algonquins, 56, 57. 
Alien act, 333. 
Allston, Washington, 462. 
America, discovered, 5, 9, 22. 

named, 11. 

American Association, 293, 207. 

American system, 394. 

Ames, Fisher, 321. 

Andros, Sir Edmund, 107-109, 119, 

145. 
Annapolis Academy, 456. 
Annapolis Convention, 280. 
Arkansas, 382, 415, 425. 
Armed neutrality, 254. 
Army of the revolution, 210-212, 

231, 238, 239, 258, 264, 265. 
— — provisional, 332. 
■ of the war with Great Britain, 

357, 361,367. 
■ of the war with Mexico, 431, 

435, 440. 
Arnold, Benedict, 211, 216, 229, 252, 

257, 260. 
Art, in the colonies, 162, 163. 

in the United States, 295, 462. 

Assemblies, colonial, 190. 
As tor Library, 458. 



Audubon, J. J., 460. 
Austin, Stephen F., 417, 418. 

Bacon, Nathaniel, 106, 107. 
Baltimore, 356. 

defence of, 366. 

Baltimore, Lords, 43, 78, 101. 
Bank of North America, 273. 
Bank of United States, 302, 368, 

380, 405-408. 
Banking, colonial, 174. 

national, 412. 

Baptists, 92, 93, 127, 164. 
Bartram, John and William, 162. 
Belcher, Jonathan, 173. 
Belknap, Jeremy, 291, 459. 
Berkeley, Sir Wi:iliam, 106, 107, 159. 
Berlin decree, 345. 
Bibles, editions of, 160. 
Billings, William, 295. 
Bishops proposed, 110, 165. 

appointed, 279. 

Black Hawk, 409. 

Bladensburg battle, 365. 

Blair, James, 158. 

Block, Adi-ian, 48. 

Board of trade, 169. 

Bonaparte, Charles L., 160. 

Boston, 37, 168, 173, 175, 196, 198, 

200, 201. 

siege of, 214, 218. 

Bowditch, Nathaniel, 460. 
Boyle, Robert, 114. 
Bradford, William, 33, 34. 
Bradstreet, Simon, 103, 108. 
Brainerd, David, 123. 
Bran'dymne battle, 235. 
Bridgewater battle, 362. 
Bromfieid, Edward, 162. 
Brooks, Maria, 461. 
Brown, Charles B., 460. 
Brown, General Jacob, 360, 362. 
Buena Vista battle, 434. 
Bunker Hill battle, 213. 
Burgoyne's defeat, 234, 235. 
(475) 



AH\ 



INDEX. 



Burkp, -Edmund, 208, 217. 
liunu't, William, 172, 173. 
Burr, Aaron, 341. 

Cabot. John, 22. 

Sol.astian, 22, 23. 

Calcf, Kobcrt, %. 

Calhoun, Jolui C. 3.55, 392, 403, 
420, 447, 449, 4 'A 

California, 135, 43o, 43G, 442, 44-1, 
44(>-4.51. 

Calvert, Sir Gcorpc, 27, 43. 

Camden battle, 25U. 

Canada, 17, 19, 136, 138, 142, 154, 
2J1, 21(5. 420. 

Canals, 454. 

Caneello, Luis dc, 14. 

Canonchet, 118, 119 

Canouic'us, 116. 

Cape Ann colony, 36. 

Capital, national, 301. 

Ohrolana, 45, 78. 

Carolina, 17, 78. 

Caroline, burning of the, 420, 421. 

Carver, John, 51. 

Catesby, Mark, 163. 

Central America, relations with, 
389. 

Ccrro Gordo battle, 438. 

Channing, William E., 416, 459. 

Chapultepec battle, 439. 

Charities, public, 403. 464. 

Charleston, 79, 24(5, 250, 261. 

defence of, 228. 

Charter governments, 38, 88. 

Charters assailed, 104, 108, 170. 

Chcrokees, 58, 393, 396. 

-^— wars with, 121. 

Chesapeake, aHair of, 343, 344. 

Chickasaws, 58. 

— — war with, 144. 

Chihuahua conquered, 434, 435. 

Child, Robert, and fellow petition- 
ers, 91. 

Chippewa battle, 302. 

Church of England, 65, 91, 104. 279. 

Churches in the colonies, 91, 104. 

in the states, 279, 298. 

Chunibusco battle, 439. 

Cincinnati Society, 209. 

Clarke, John. and fellow Baptists,92. 

Classes in colonies, 85, 87. 

Clay, Ilenrv. '.i'V^, 375, 380, 387, 
4()3, 407, 414, 449, 450. 

Clayborne, William, 45. 

Cole, Thomas, 402. 

Coligny, Admiral de, 17. 



Colleges, 29, 39, 158, 4.55. 

Columbia Convention, 399. 

Columbus, 7-11, 22. 

Conuuerciai rule over the colonies, 
105. 174, 183. 

Commissioners, British, to Massa- 
chusetts, 103. 

to New York, 1.30. 

to United States, 241. 

Companies, Dutch, 48. 49, 127, 128. 

English, 20, 27, 31, 42. 

Ereuch, 13(5, 143. 

Swedish, 54. 

Compromises, constitutional, 287- 
290. 

Missouri, .3&5, 386. 

tan If, 403. 

Texas, 426. 427. 

of 1850, 449-451. 

Conant, lloger, 36. 

Concord battle, 209. 

Conestoga massacre, 122. 

Confederation, 225, 2.54. 

Congress, stamp act, 188-191, 

Continental, 202-2U4. 211, 212, 

215, 221-225, 227, 231-233, 23»- 
241, 244, 245, 251, 2.52, 2.54. 

of the Confederation, 255, 258, 

26.3-265, 270, 272, 274-276, 281, 
293. 

of the Constitution, 296, 299- 

395, 3' 18, 318, 321, 323,' 324, 337, 
338, ;i46, 351, 353, 355, 3(57, 376, 
382-388, .391, 394, 396-398, 402, 
403, 405-107, 409-112, 414, 417, 
420, 421, 427, 431, 447-151. 

of Panama, 391. 

Congresses, rrovincial, 202, 206, 
211,212. 

Connecticut, 40, 41, 76, 104, 108- 
110, 120, 210, 225, 275, 278, 369, 
370, 382. 

Consolidation of colonies, 107-110. 

Constitution, national, 279-293. 

amendments, 299 

Constitutions, state, 225, 277, 278, 
.300, 382, 387, 422-425. 

Contreras battle, 4.39. 

Conventions, colonial, 107, 194, 201. 

constitutional, 280, 282, 292, 

293. 

Coo])er, J. Fenimore, 400. 

C(>i)i('y, Jolni Sinvrlcton, 103. 

Cornburv, Lord. 171. 

Cornwallis's surrender, 2^59, 260. 

Council for New England, 32, 35, 41. 

Coweuga capitulation, 436. 



INDEX. 



477 



Cowpens battle, 256. 
Credit, public, 300, 416. 
Creeks, 58, 392, 393. 

wars with, 367, 380, 410. 

Crisisofl837, 412, 413. 
Croswell, William, 461. 
Crown, supremacy of, 102. 
Crozat, Antoine, 141, 142. 
Cruger, Henry, 207. 

Dahcotas, 56. 

Dare, Virginia, 24. 

Dearborn, General Henry, 3.57, 360. 

Debt, imprisonment for, 464. 

public, 300, 301, 378, 408, 446. 

Decatur, Captain Stephen, 364, 377. 

Declaration of rights and liberties, 
188, 189. 

of colonial rights, 203. 

— — of independence by Mecklen- 
burg county, 210. 

by Congress, 223, 224, 227. 

Decrees, French, against American 
commerce, 317, 323, 331, 347, 
348, 353. 

D'Estaing, Count, 243, 244, 247. 

De Grasse, Count, 259, 260. 

De Kalb, Baron, 250. 

Delaware, 82, 225, 281, 282, 292. 

Delawares, 57- 

wars wth, 121, 122. 

Democratic party, 411. 

Democratic republicans, 308, 314. 

Deposits in United States Bank 
removed, 406, 407. 

Deseret, 448. 

D'Ibervilie, Lemoine, 141, 146. 

Dickinson, John, 193, 203, 222, 292. 

Dictatorship of Washington, 232. 

Doniphan, Colonel, 434, 435. 

Dorr, Thomas W., 424, 425. 

Drake, Sir Francis, 23, 24. 

Joseph R., 461. 

Dunster, Henry, 93. 

Edwards, Jonathan, 123, 161. 

Education, 157, 158. 

Eliot, John, 40, 103, 113-115. 

Embargo, under Washington, 318. 

under Jefferson, 346, and sub- 
stitutes, 347. 

under Madison, 351, 367, 368. 

Endicott, John, 36. 

England, John, 159. 

England, 65, 71-73, 179. 

English dominion at its height in 
America, 177, 179. 



Espejio, De, 15. 
Europe, 3-5, 61-66. 
European sovereigns, 467. 
Eutaw Springs battle, 257- 
Excise, 300, 308. 
Exeter insurrection, 270. 
Exploring Expedition, 456. 

Federal and anti-federal, 284, 286. 
Federal Convention, 282, 290. 
Federal Republican, of Baltimore, 

356. 
Federalist and anti-federalist, 291, 

302, 314, 318. 
Federalist, the, 292. 
Fillmore, Millard, 451. 
Five Nations, 57, 120. 

wars with, 144, 147, 148. 

Fletcher, Benjamin, 109. 

Florida, Spanish and British, 13, 

14, 131, 132, 135, 263, 313, 336, 

339, 350, 381. 

American, 381, 416, 425. 

Foot's resolution, 397, 398. 
Foreign relations, 215, 240, 312, 

379, 389, 410. 
Foreigners, jirotection of, 376. 
Fort Bowyer, 372, 373. 

Brown, 433. 

Erie, 362. 

Lee, 229. 

McHenrv, 366. 

Moultrie, 228. 

Meigs, 359. 

Mercer, 236, 237. 

Mifflin, 236. 

Stevenson, 359. 

Sullivan, 228. 

^Vashington, 229. 

France, 64, 67-71. 

alliance with, 240. 

war Avith, 332. 

relations with, 313-317, 322, 

323, 331, 332, 334, 336, 338, 344, 

345, 347, 348, 353, 358, 410, 411. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 159, 160, 161, 

i(i8, 192, 202, 223, 240, 263, 283, 

285, 287, 290. 
Franklin, or Frankland, 271. 
Free soil party, 445. 
Fremont, John C, 435, 436. 
Freneau, Philip, 294. 
French in the revolution, 240, 243, 

244, 252, 258-261. 
Frenchtown battle, 358, 359. 
Fugitive slaves, 86, 99, 289. 
Fugitive slave laws, 448, 449, 451. 



•17H 



INDEX. 



Gailstlcn.Christoiihrr, IftS, 203, 20G. 

Ga«c, Gcm«ral, 'iOO, 20(5, 211. 

Gallatin, Albert, ."iOS, li.'}'), 87-5, IGO. 

Gaspt* roviMiiu' srlioonor, H)?. 

Gates, General lloratio, 234, 237, 
238. 250. 

General Rovcrnnient for the colo- 
nies. W), 3(1, 01), 107-110, 1G8, 170. 

Genet's niissiim, 'M'}, .'ilO. 

Georgia. 82, 133, 21-), 22.3, 2-lG, 277, 
392, 303, 30.), 30(), 402. 

Georgia controversy, 393. 

Gennantown l)attk', 2:5.). 

Gerry, Klhri.l-e, 2S7. 200, 331, 378. 

Gilbert, Sir lluniplircy, 23, 24. 

Godfrey, Tliouias, 1G2. 

Gor<?es, Sir Ferdinando, 31, 3^5, 3G, 
38, 74. 

Gorton, Samuel, 98, 117. 

Gosnold, Bartholomew, 2.5, 27. 

Gourj^ues, De, 18. 

Governors, royal, 106, 171. 

Gray's voyage, 432. 

Great Britain, relations with, 276, 
313, 314, 317-.32;), ;U2-34o, 347, 
348, :i.31, 379, 420, 421, 431, 432. 
(See Treaties, Wars.) 

Greene, General Nathanic* 251, 
2.56, 257, 2.50. 

Greenou_u;h, Horatio, 462. 

Grenville, Sir Richard, 24. 

Guilford battle. 256. 

Gun boats, J ctferson's, 346. 

Hakluvt, Richard, 27. 

Hamilton, Alexander. 2.39, 2-55, 

279, 28'), 283, 28-i, 292, 299, 300, 

307, 308, 318, ,335, 341. 
Hanson, Alexander, 3.56. 
Harrisburji; Convention, 394. 
Harrison, William Henry, 349, 358, 

3.59, 421. 
Hartford Convention, 369-372. 
Harvard, John, 39. 
Harvard Colle-e, 39, 93, 96, 194 
Harvev, Reuben, 2(53. 
Hawley, Joseph, 195, 204. 
Haync, Robert Y., 398. 
Ileckewelder, Jolin, 311. 
■ Henry, Patrick, 187, 203, 201. 
Hillliousc, James A., 461. 
Hobart, Jolm II., 4 59. 
Hobkirk's Hill battle, 2.56. 
Hopkinson, Francis, 294. 
Holmes, Abicl, 450. 
Houston, Samuel, 418,426. 
Hudson, Henry, 47- 



Huijucnots in Carolina, 17, 18, 79. 
Hidl, Captain Isaac, 364. 
Hull, (Jeneral Willian>, 3.58. 
Hutcliinson, Anne, 40. 

Illinois, 139, 201, 242,337, 341, 382, 

415. 
Immitcration, 453. 
Impressment. British, 175, 317, W2, 

344, 353, 375, 376, 422. 
Indented servants, 8.5, 86, 278. 
Indei)endence, American, idea of, 

220, 221. 

resolution of, 222, 223. 

Iiulependent treasury, 413, 414. 
Indiana, 142, 275, 3J52, 415. 

territory, 337. 

Indians, tiibes and numbers, 56-58, 

4,53. 
removal of, 349, 393. (See 

Treaties, Wars.) 
Insolvency of states, 414, 415. 
Iowa, 42.5. 
Iroquois, 56, 57. (See Fice X(^ 

tioiis.) 

Jackson, Andrew, 324, 367, 372, 
373, 380, 381, 392, 39.5-.397, 401, 
402,40.5-109, 411, 417, 41i), 428. 

Jav, John, 203, 221, 249, 263, 292, 
209, 318-320. 

Jay's treaty, 319-21. 

Jclferson, Thomas, 223, 274, 276, 
209, 305, 307, 308, 318, 326, 331, 
333, 338, 339, 343, ,346. 347, 381. 

Jones, John Paul, 248, 249. 

Judiciary, national, 209. 

Jud-iies, colonial, at king's pleasure, 
176. 

Kalm, Peter, 163. 
Kent, James. 4-59. 
Kentucky, 215. 271, 306. 
Kind's Mountain battle, 253. 
King's Province, 76, 104. 

Laconia, ,35, 

Lafavettc. Marquis de. 233, 241, 244, 

240, 251, 2-50-261, 268, 277, 206, 

325, 388. 
Lake Champlain, action on, 363 

Krie, action on, 3,59. 

I.a Salle, 139, 140. 

Laurens, llenrv, 254, 263. 

Law, English, In the colonics, 87. 

Lee. Generul Charles, 228, 238, 241, 

2-12. 



INDEX. 



479 



Lee, General Henry, 309, 356. 

Richard Henry, 203, 204, 222. 

Legare, Hugh Swinton, 459. 

Leisler, Jacob, 108. 

Leverett, John, 105, 119. 

Lewis and Clarke's expedition, 432. 

Lexington battle, 209. 

Libraries, 457. 

Ligonia, 74. 

Lincoln, General Benjamin, 246, 

247, 2.50, 270. 
Little Belt, affair of, 350. 
Literature of the colonies, 161, 162, 

167. 
of the United States, 291, 292, 

294, 458-461. 
Livingston, Edward,. 459. 
Livingston, Robert R., 223, 338. 
Locke, John, model for Carolma, 88. 
London Company, 27, 29. 
Long Island battle, 229. 
Louisiana, American, 338-340, 350, 

373, 415. 
French and Spanish, 133, 135, 

139-143, 154, 338. 

district of, 340, 350. 

Loyalists, 217, 263. 

Madison, James, 272, 283, 292, 326, 
334, 347, 351, 355, 378, 380, 398. 

Maine, 19, 31, 35, 36, 74, 75, 104, 
138, 271, 385, 386, 420, 421. 

Manhattans, 57. 

wars with, 125. 

Manufactures, colonial, restricted, 
170, 174. 

national, developed, 394, 453. 

Mariana, 35. 

Marion, Francis, 250. 

Marquette, 139. 

Marshall, John, 331, 341. 

Martin, Luther, 287, 289, 291. 

Maryland, 43, 44, 77, 108, 129, 157, 
225, 255, 280, 415. 

Mason, John, 35, 36. 

Massachusetts, 37-39, 75, 99, 102- 
105, 108, 114, 129, 157, 166, 173, 
194, 200, 202, 206, 210, 212, 225, 
270, 275, 278, 279, 293, 308-371, 
376, 386, 421. 

Mather, Cotton, 96, 164, 165. 

Mather, Increase, 96, 119. 

Mayhew, Jonathan, 177, 187. 

Mayhew, Thomas, 113, 114. 

McDonough, Captain, 363. 

Mecklenburg county, 210. 

Melendez de Avilez, 14, 17. 



Methodist Episcopal church, 279. 
Mexico, relations with, 409, 425, 

427-429. 
Miantonimoh, 116, 117- 
Michigan, 139, 337, 341, 358, 360, 

415, 425. 
Milan decree, 345. 
Military rule over the colonies, 175, 

176, 183. 
Militia, in the revolution, 206, 215, 

231. 
in the war with Great Britain, 

357, 367, 371. 
Minnesota, 446. 

Minors, enlistments of, 367, 372. 
Minuit, Peter, 50, 52, 55. 
Missions, French, 19, 20, 120, 138, 

139, 142. 

English, 113-115, 123. 

Moravian, 122, 124, 311. 

Spanish, 14, 131, 132. 

Mississippi, 141, 337, 382, 415, 416. 

ten-itory, 337, 350, 382. 

navigation of, 258, 276, 313. 

Missouri, 142, 154, 340, 350, 382, 

387. 

compromise, 385, 386. 

M'Leod, Alexander, 420. 

Mobilians, 56, 58. 

Mohawks, 57, 120, 125. 

Mohegans, 57, 116, 117. 

Molino del Rey battle, 439. 

Monmouth battle, 242. 

Monroe, James, 322, 338, 343, 355, 

380, 381, 386, 388-390. 

doctrine, 389-391. 

Monterey taken, 433. 
Moravians, 83, 122, 124, 311. 
Mormons, 448, 463. 
Morris, Robert, 273. 
Morton, Thomas, 42. 
Mother coimtry, relations with colo- 
nies, 102, 169, 183. 
Moultrie, Colonel, 228, 247- 

Narragansetts, 57, 116. 

war with, 117, 118. 

Natchez Indians, 58. 

war \nth, 144. 

National University, 456. 

Navigation acts, 105. 

Navy of the revolution, 215, 216, 

237, 248, 249. 

of the war with France, 332. 

of the war with Tripoli, 338. 

of the war with Great Britain, 

357, 359, 363-365, 374. 



480 



INDEX. 



Navy of the war with Algiers, 377. 
of the war witli Mexico, 436- 

4:i«. 

Neutrality prodaimcd hy Washiiig- 

tou, 31o, 322. 
Neutrals. 317, 310. 323, 342, 353, 37-5. 
New All»iou. 23. 45. 

Anistel, 128. _ 

Ainsterdani, 50; first city in 

the I'liited Slates, 127. 

Connecticut, 272. 

Kn-laiul, 31, 76, itO, 107. 

France. 17, 13G-138, 140. 

llan>i)shire, 30, 75, lO-i, 210, 



•>•).= 



(0,27 



9 9 



78. 



Hampshire s,Mants, 76.271,272. 

Jersey, 80, 108-110, 172, 225, 

L'.'iO. 254; 235, 2S1. 

Mexico, 15,4;r), 442,440-451. 

Netlfcrland, 48, 125, 127, 130. 

Orleans, 143, 154, 338, 372, 

373. 

Orleans battles, 372, 373. 

Somersetshire, 30, 74. 

Sweden, or,, 127, 128. 

York, colony and state, 70, 

107-111, 13), l.'iO, 167. 172, 176, 

106, 225, 255, 256, 272, 274, 270, 

2:)2. 42). 

York city, 50, 220, 292, 412. 

Newhurg Addresses, 264. 
Newport, 230, 243, 248. 
Newspapers, 159, 160. 
Non-importation and non-intcr- 

coursi-. 101_318, 332, 347. 368. 
North C'aroliii?, 78, 120, 121, 197, 

221, 225, 281, 292, 299, 305, 308, 

402. 
North-eastern boundary, 420, 421. 

Point battle, 366. 

Northern and southern parties, 272, 

273, 288, 303, 369, 383-387, 397, 

415-147. 
North-west Territory, 275, 305. 
Norton, Andrews, 4()L 
Nidlitication in Kentucky, 333. 

in Virf^inia, 333, 395. 

in Massachusetts, 371, 372, 

37»"), 377. 

in Connecticut, 371. 

in (Jeor-ia, 393, 395. 

in South Carolina, 395, 399- 

403. 

Occui)atif)ns, 156, 453. 
0^^1«t!ior])e, James Edward, 82,83, 
133. 134. 



1 Ohio, 142, 275, 341, 358, 3G0. 

I t'ompany, 151. 

I Opechancanouf^h, 115. 
I Orders in council, British, against 
Americaiu commerce, 317, 345, 
347, 353. 

Oregon, 432, 446. 

controversy, 431, 432. 

Orleans, Territory of, 340. 

Osceola, 410. 

Otis, James, 177, 186, 188. 

Ottawas, 57. 

war with, 122. 

Paine, Thomas, 204. 
Palo Alto battle, 433. 
Panama, congj^'ss of, 391. 
Papal bull in favor of Spain, 10. 
} Pai)er money, 232. 
Parliament, 'authority of, 104-106, 

174, 186. (See Acts.) 
Parties, in the colouicu, 18-1, 191, 

196, 217, 222, 226. 
in the United States, 220, 

273,-28.3, 286, 288, 291, 2i>9, 302, 

303, 307, 308, 314, 316, 320, 321, 

323, 324, 330, 333, 335, 339, 355, 

368, 369, 383-387, 411, 445. 
Patroons, 50. 
Pavne, John IL, 461. 
Penn, William, 81, 101, 167. 
I'ennsylvania, 81, 101, 109, 122, 142, 

157,'166. 225, 277, 278, 281, 292, 

308, 415, 416. 

insurrection, 308, 309. 

Pequots, 57. 

war with, 116. 

Percival, James G., 461. 

Perry, Lieutenant Oliver H., 359. 

Persecution in Massachusetts, 43, 

91-95, 98. 

in other colonies, 96, 97. 

in New Netherland, 127. 

Pcssacus, 117. 

Philadelphia, 81, 101, 167, 198, 23.5, 

2^11. 
Philip, King, 117. 

war with. 117-110. 

Phips, Sir William, !)5, 146. 

Pickering, John, 459. 

Pincknev, Charles C, 283, 289, 

323, 3:31. 
Plymouth, .32-34, 74, 100, 10-1, 113, 

117, 119, 146. 
Plymouth Company, 31. 
Pokanokets, 57. > 
war with, 117-119. 



INDEX. 



481 



Polk, James Jv., 427, 431, 432,441, 

444, 445. 
Ponce de Leon, 13. 
Pontiac, 122. 

Population, 184, 298, 357, 452. 
Powhatans, 57, 112. 

war with, 115. 

Presbyterians, 91, 279. 
Presidents of Cons:ress, 468. 
Press, the, 158-160, 457- 
Prisoners of war, 282, 376. 
Propriefary goveriunents, 43, 88, 

89. 
Protective system, 394, 397, 403, 

404, 445. 
Protestant Episcopal church, 279, 

298, 463. 
Providence, 41, 76. 
Pulaski, Count, 246, 247- 
Puritans in Holland, 32, 49. 

Quakers, 80, 81, 91, 94, 97, 127, 

164, 166. 
Queenstown battle, 360. 
Quincy, Josiah, Jr , 194, 197- 
Quintuple treaty, 421.' 

Railways, 455. 
Ptaleii?h, Sir Walter, 2A. 
Randolph, Edmund, 283, 290, 296, 

299, 307, 320. 
Rasles, Sebastian, 120. 
Reed, Esther, 253. 
Reed, Henry, 460. 
Reformation, 61-63. 
Regulators, 197. 

Removals from office by Jackson, 

395. 
Republican party, 303, 314, 380. 
Repudiation, 415, 416. 
Resaca de la Palma battle, 433. 
Revolution of 1688, 71, 108. 
Revolution, war of. — Three Peri- 
ods, 227, 243: First, 206-219; 

Second, 227-242 ^ Third, 243- 

260. 
Rhode Island, 41, 76, 97, 100, 104, 

108, 198, 202, 210, 225, 256, 278, 

293, 299, 369. 
Rhode Island, sedition and war in, 

422-425. 
Right of search. (See Imjn-css- 

rnents.) 

of visit, 421. 

Robinson, John, 113. 
Rochambeau, Count de, 252, 259- 

261. 

41 



Roman Catholics, 96, 164, 278, 

279, 298, 463. 
Royal African Company, 170. 

provinces, 30, 89. 

Rutledge, John, 203, 246, 289. 

Sackett's Harbor, defence of, 360, 

362. 
Saltonstall, Sir Richard, 93. 
Sarjftoga battles, 234. 
Saussaye, De, 19. 
Savannah, 83, 246, 247, 261. 
Schools, 157, 158, 455. 
Schuyler, General Philip, 234. 
Science in the colonies, 161, 162. 

in. the United States, 460. 

Scott, General Winfield, 362, 410, 

437-440. 
Secession of South Carolina, 395. 
Sedition act, 333. 
Settlements, Spanish, 13-16, 132, 

135. 

French, 17-21, 138-143. 

English, 22-46, 74-83. 

Dutch, 47-53, 129. 

Swedish, 54, 55, 127, 128. 

Seminoles, 58. 

wars with, 380, 410. 

Shawanoes, 57- 

wars with, 121, 122, 349. 

Shawomet, 98. 

Shays's insurrection, 270. 

Slaves, first in America, 10 ; first 

in United States territory, 28, 60. 
Slavery in colonies, 86, 166. 
in the United States, 278, 288, 

289, 409. 
in the territories, 274, 275, 

304, 305, 337, 383, 384. 
in District of Columbia, 447, 

449-451. 

in Louisiana, 339, 383. 

in Missouri, 382-385. 

in Texas, 419, 425-427, 446, 

447. 
in New Mexico and California, 

447, 448. 
Slave representation, 288. 
Slave trade, 170, 171, 199, 278, 288, 

303, 304, 387 
Smith, -John, 27, 28, 31, 112. 
Smithsonian Institution, 456. 
Society for propagating the Gospel 

m New England, 114. 
for propagating the Gospel in 

Foreign Parts, 165. 
Sons of Liberty, 196. 



482 



INDRX. 



South Amorica, relations with, 389. 
Carolina, 7S. 120, Til, 157, 

1G7, 2_>-3, 'JoO, auo, ;jl)'J-lU3. 
Spain, mistress of tlir wt-st. 9. 
relations witli, 27-3, iil3, 33G, 

331), 3oU, 380, 381. 
Specie payments suspended, 3G8, 

412. 
Spoliations, 379, HO, 428. 
St. Augustine, ftrst town in United 

States, lo. 
St. Sauvcur, 19. 
Standish, Miles, 31, 43. 
State, subordinate to nation, 392, 

404. 
Steamboats, 4.>3. 
Steuben, liaron de, 2o8. 
Stony Point, taken, 248. 
Storv, Josepli, 4o9. 
Stuart, Gilbert, 402. 
■ Moses, 4o9. 
Stuyvesant, Tetcr, 127-129. 
Sub-treasury, 413, 414. 
Sumter, Thomas, 2o0. 
Surplus revenue, 408. 
Susquehannas, 57. 
war with, 115. 

Tariffs, 300, 379, 394, 395, 397, 403, 

445. 
Taxation, parliamcntarv', 105, 173, 

174, 186, 187, 193, 20.1 
Taxes, national, 332, 308, 380. 
Taylor, Zuchary, 430, 433, 434, 448, 

451. 
Tea destroyed, 198, 199. 
Tecimisch; ai9, 3G0. 
Telcj^raphs, 455. 
Tennessee, 205, 271, 306. 
Territories, Jefferson's plan of or- 

panizinj^, 274. 
Territory, colonial, 156. 

nat'ioual, 444, 452. 

South of the Ohio, 305, 306. 

Texas, 140, 417, 442, 446, 447, 449- 

451. 

revolution, 418. 

annexation. 418, 419, 425-427. 

Thaeher, Oxenbrid^re, 177, 187. 
Thames, battle of the, 360. 
Ticondero^a taken, 211. • 

lost, 2;i4. 

Tippecanoe, battle of the, 349. 

Tohoi)eka battle, 3G7. 

Town J s, 89. 

Treaties of Ai.\-la-Chapellc, 134, 

150, 171. 



Treaties of Breda, 130. 

Ghent, .'i75, 37G. ' 

Guadalupe Hidalgo, 441-143. 

Paris, 134, 1-34, 179. 

Paris and Versailles, 263. 

Uvswick, 147. 

SJville, 133. 

Utrecht, 133, 142, 148, 171. 

Versailles, 2G3. 

WashiuK'ton, 421, 422. 

with Algiers, 311, 377. 

with Creeks, 367, 380, 393. 

\Wtli Five Nations, 118, 149. 

with France, 240, 336, 338, 

340, 410. 
with Great Britain, 263, 276, 

319, 343, 375, 421. 
with Indians, 300, 367, 377, 

380, 393. 

with Mexico, 428, 441-443. 

with Prussia, 274 (}iofe), 312. 

witli Spain, 313, 381. 

Transylvania, 216. 

Trenton and l*rinceton battles, 230. 

Trumbull, John, 294. 

John, Jr., 462. 

Tucker, Dean, 208. 
Tuscaroras, 58. 

war with, 120. 

Tyler, John, 421, 424, 42.5. 

Uncas, 116-118. 

Union, colonial — United Colonies 
of New England, 99, 100, 117,118. 

Penn's plan, 167. 

Coxe's, 167. 

Franklin's, 167. 

Halifax's, 168. 

United States of Aiucrica, 224. 
Utah, 448. 

Valley Forge, 239. 

Van Buren. Martin, 406, 412. 

Van dcr Donrk. Adrian, 126, 127. 

Van Mm-ray, "William, 334. 

Vera Cruz taken, 437. 

Vennnnt, 76, 271, 272, 306. 

Vespucci, Ameriijo, 11. 

Virszinia. 2<), 28-31, 77, 195, 108, 
202, 221, 225, 247, 256. 257, 271, 
274, 280, 292, .301, 321, 395, 402. 

Vizcaino, Sebastiano, 15. 

Volunteers of the Mexican war, 430, 
431, 433, 440. 

Walloon colony, 49. 
Ware, WilUam, 46L 



INDEX. 



483 



Warren, Joseph, 210, 213. • 
Wars, Dutch, 51, 52, 129, 130. 

French, 19, 133, 145-155. 

King WiUiam's, 145-147. 

Queen Anne's, 147, 148. 

King George's, 149, 150. 

Final, 150-154. 

Indian, with English, 106, 

115-123, 146-148. 

with Dutch, 125, 126. 

- — with French, 144, 146_, 148. 

with Spanish, 131-135. 

United States, with Algiers, 

377. 

with Florida, 381. 

— -with France, 331, 332. 

with Great Britain, 350, 351, 

353-378. 
Anth Indians, 309, 310, 349, 

367, 380, 409, 446 

with Mexico, 427-443. 

Avith Tripoli, 338. 

Warwick, Earl of, 40, 99. 
Washington, before the revolution, 

151, 153, 187, 195, 200, 202-204, 

210. 
' commander-in-chief, 212-219, 

221, 228-233, 235-239, 241-248, 

251-253, 255, 258-260, 262-267. 
after the revolution, 268, 276, 

277, 282, 292, 294. 



Washington, president, 296-299, 
302, 305-310, 315, 316, 318-325. 

in retirement, 332, 335. 

Wayne, General Anthony, 248, 310. 

Webster, Daniel, 390, 398, 407, 421, 
422, 449, 450, 458. 

Wesley, John and Charles, 163. 

West Point, 248, 252. 

Academy, 456. 

Whitaker, Alexander, 30. 

Whitefield, George, 163. 

AVickes, Captain, 237- 

Wilde, llichard Henrv, 400. 

Wilkinson, General, 360, 361. 

WiUiams, Eoger, 40, 41, 76, 97, 
116. 

Wilmot proviso, 441. 

Wilson, Alexander, 460. 

Winslow, Edward, 104-. 

Yfinthrop, John, 37, 92. 

Jr., 41, 76, 130. 

-2— Professor, 162. 

fisconsin, 425. 
ool. General, 433, 434. 
Woolman, John, 167- 
Worth, General, 433, 437, 439. 
Writs of assistance, 176. 
Wyoming, 245, 271. 

Zenger, John Peter, 160. 



